Hapless Romantics
by slexenskee
Summary: [SasuSaku] All Sakura needed to do was ignore Sasuke for a few weeks, and she would have Sasuke's attention. But how would she do that if just a look at the Uchiha boy did funny things to her heart? If only it was as easy as it seems... Sequel Up!
1. H

This is my very first Naruto fanfic because I just recently got into it! Hee Hee!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

Full Summary: Ino's idea was brilliant. In order to win the hearts of their crushes, the girls needed to be Calm, Cool, and Collective. But Sakura's heart did cartwheels whenever Sasuke glanced at her, and she could barely contain her blushes. How on Earth could she possibly ignore him?

* * *

According to the Ninja Guidebook, a ninja should never let his or her guard down. It seems to be a pretty reasonable rule, seeing as though the battlefield can be a rough and dangerous place. If you do happen to be caught off-guard, you are liable for any injuries that occur to you. In other words, the village that you belong to doesn't want to be persecuted so they added that rule. This is one of the very first rules in the guidebook that all shinobi should review. 

But then again, not many Gennins actually read after the third page without falling asleep.

Ninjas like that are just about as bad a Naruto. Sure, he may be great at times-which are few and far between-but his knowledge can be compared to that of a rodent. Even so, Naruto DID read after the third page, but he fell asleep on the fifth. Sasuke and Sakura too found it hard to look at the massive book of knowlegable resource and ressist the urge to puke. But they still read farther than him.

Still, as Sakura flipped through the pages with half a mind, she couldn't help but think that no one in their right mind would read the entirety of this book. Sakura even doubted the teachers read most of it, even though they claimed to have read it in their Gennin days.

Sasuke, next to her was leaning against his desk with an unreadable face, barely paying anymore attention than Naruto. And he claims to be a prodigy. But then again, the other prodigy that never seemed to omit any mistakes wasn't doing so well either, Neji was practically glaring lasers at the clock to tick faster.

Ten Ten, who sat at the back of the class was absentmindedly twirling a kunai and pretending to hit it at the clock. But there were more furious people out there, like Ino, who was about to perform her mind switching jutsu if it weren't for Shikamaru to stop her. A painful expierience for all of the class. School itself was just hell over, with the book, it was as bad as being stuck in an unmoving elevator with a hungry Naruto.

That was downright awful. Sakura gave another wistful look at the clock and her class. Seems most of the students were willing to kill that teacher at the moment.

Sakura gave another half hearted sigh as she forced her eyes to avert from the clock and to dwindle on the page she was currently on at the moment. What a perfect way to waste valuable time that could be spent learning important jutsus in Sakura's thoughts. A completely unenjoyable way for the teacher to lounge and leave his or her students to suffer through the wrath of incoherent learning. It really sucked at all the frequent times the students were left to flip through the massive ninja guidebook trying to avoid the unavoidable boredom. It probably wasn't really as knowledgable as they claimed.

It was probably just a stupid excuse to slack off from teaching.

The lazy bum of a teacher looked up from his magazine from his spot lounging in his chair. "Okay, class dissmissed." He grunted before looking back to his reading.

Naruto raised his hands as if praising god, but Sasuke quickly jabbed him in his most tickilish rib before the teacher noticed. After that, Sasuke made a bee line towards the exit, giving Sakura little time to follow. He probably was desperate to get away from class.

And away from her and Naruto.

She grabbed her pencils and what-nots, making sure not to leave anything behind so she could catch up to Sasuke. She gave a look at her Ninja Guidebook and wondered if she should just leave it, or face the wrath of lugging it around the Academy. She began to walk to the exit, that now seemed remarkably like a god, in hopes of escaping the class and Naruto, and catching up to Sasuke. She slyly avoided Naruto and turned away from his blaring orange form.

"Sakura-chan!" An annoying voice wrang clear in her ears. Damn, Naruto already caught her.

"What?" She responded tartly.

His grin spread even wider. "You want to come with me to Ichiraku-

"No." She deadpanned.

She decided the book wasn't worth staying anymore moments with Naruto's pestering form invading her vision. The worst part was that they were on the same team. The good part? Sasuke was her other team mate. Yes, Sakura was also yet another girl after the Uchiha heartthrob, rivalries include Ino, and just about the entirety of the female population. Also she was more discreet about her crush. But it was still rather noticable.

Naruto's voice sounded sing-song."But Sasuke-teme and Kakashi-sensei will be there!" Sakura stopped in her tracks of leaving the room.

She slowly turned her head towards the blonde's direction as if in utter shock. She didn't hear the Kakashi part, but her usually unsensitive ears perked up at the sound of his name. Sasuke. She may HATE Naruto with a burning fury, but dining with Sasuke? Screw Naruto! She could care less if he was there or if he was stuck in a toilet if Sasuke was there. She realized that she was showing a little to much of her major crush on Sasuke and shook her head as if she didn't care.

"Oh." She hid her absolute joy and settled for a sigh that almost sounded dissapointed.

"So you'll come?" Naruto turned giddy.

"Whatever." She pretended to sound bored, but her mind was cheering. Sasuke was eating with her... like a date!! Although she completely forgot that Naruto and Kakashi would be there.

"Can we go now? You morons are so slow." Sakura's heart quickened ten fold at the sound of his voice. Even though it was laced with malice for the both of them, it still made her swoon.

There was Sasuke, leaned against the door relaxed. He seemed as cold as ever. But Sakura's heart still beat fast. Was he waiting for them? Was he excited about going to eat with them? With her? Did he want to ask her out? OR even better, Marriage? Possibilities ran through her head as she began to conjure up fantasies.

"The faster we get there," Sakura's heart sped up even more as he said this. "The faster I can get to my next class and go home." And all her fantasies crashed. She felt the pressure of such a let down and tears prick at her eyes.

She shook her head. No, Sasuke hates girls like that, she wouldn't be like one of them. She'll just have to surpress her emotions for now. Before she could ever think about being his girlfriend, she needed to be his friend. Which means, calm, cool, and collective.

"Yeah! One class left!" Naruto screamed before grabbing Sakura's (As much as she loathed it) hand and rushing out of the class. Her other hand was still outstretched from when she debaited to leave or bring her text book and her fingers latched onto Sasuke's shirt when they passed him.

There was a slight rip heard, and Sakura looked down at her hand. And she saw a tapered blue cloth with the Uchiha Fan on it. She didn't remember that there. It took a few seconds for her head to wrap around the pieces of what just happened. She must have grabbed Sasuke's shirt on accident and ripped it. Tearing a piece off. She had a piece of Sasuke's shirt! That thought was overebearing.

Which made a red stain her cheeks.

Which made Sasuke wonder what happened to his shirt which was fine a moment ago.

She clutched it tightly as Naturo tugged her down the many maze-like hallways of the Academy. This had to be one of the best days of her life. Aside from the few quick seconds of happiness when she realized she was on Sasuke's team, but that was quickly shut down when Naruto's name was called afterwards. Ah yes, Sakura was enjoying the feeling of Sasuke's shirt in her hands, and was getting a little ahead of herself. She just hoped that Sasuke didn't realize that she was the one who ripped his shirt.

* * *

The next class seemed extremely close to that of watching paint dry. The teacher couldn't be anymore annoying, aside from the occasional snort he gave that made all the students cringe. He was so ugly, that the warts on his nose seemed to turn sickly green when he talked. 

It was probably just their imagination.

But one thing wasn't. The ridicoulsly melodorous odor that wafted in the hot room. As if every student were psychic, they all came to the conclusion that their pig of a teacher was the cause of the stench. Not to mention the airconditioner was broken in the middle of June. If only it wasn't so hot, smell, sticky, sweaty, and downright indecent.

He probably planned for it to be like this.

He wasn't even teaching anything important, just some scientific explanations that wouldn't help at all in the ninja world. Maybe if you were extremely nerdy would this information be useful. In most cases however, you were better off ignoring the words that came out of the teachers mouth. Though most people were actually paying attention with half a mind.

Sakura however, couldn't care less.

She was much to busy day dreaming about the boy to her left. Sasuke Uchiha. You could be blind and still know her crush. It was very evident. Maybe that's why every time he caught her glancing at him, it made her heart wrench just thinking how much he would be loathing her at the moment. Luckily, he was yet to catch her and she had already averted her gaze to her blank paper.

That's right, he handed them homework. That damn bastard.

Now she couldn't enjoy her evening with Sasuke! She'd have to do this stupid homework that she didn't know how to do instead! Sakura's anger boiled as she looked at the back of the snorting-pig-like creature that was supposed to be teaching them. She grabbed a kunai from her holster, unknown that Sasuke's careful eyes noticed the death glares she was sending.

Her hand pulled upwards as her fingers tightly wrapped around the metal handle. But something beat her to it. A pencil wizzed by her left ear, cutting some of her hair off at its closeness. It was straight aimed for the teachers head. Sakura twisted her head back to see Ten Ten at the back of the class. She probably set that off.

"Ah! -snort- My glasses! -snort-" The fat teacher snorted.

He then proceeded bend down to pick up the glasses, flashing everyone in the process. The class groaned when they saw his crack and his brown underwear. The origin of the smell was now found. Sakura plucked her nostrils together in a sign of disdain. That was just rotten.

Sadly, the pencil stabbed the chalk board as the teacher had narrowly dodged a head shot. He once again began to teach his pointless lesson. You didn't even need to turn around to know that Ten Ten was pissed.

Sakura felt a tap on her head. She leaned over her chair to see a crumpled note on the tile floor near her chair. She quickly grabbed it in her hand before the teacher noticed. Delicatly, she peeled it open to reveal a hidden note.

_Hey Forehead! R U coming to the roof this afternoon? _

_-Ino_

Sakura shifted threw her binder for a pencil.

_Yeah, but I'll be there late for the tanning session. Got to go to Ichiraku with Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi-sensei._

_-sakura_

She put her pencil down and crumpled the note again before throwing it over her shoulder. She heard Ino gasp when she read it. The paper was once again thrown at her head.

_With SASUKE?!?!?!? _

_I hate you_

_-Ino_

_P.S.- Hinata wants 2 know what flavor of Ramen Naruto likes._

Sakura gave a smirk as she grabbed her pencil and furiously began to jot down something. Unknown to her, Sasuke was watching her carefully from his seat next to her.

_Hee Hee, I hate you 2 _

_Naruto's favortie Ramen is Chiken Flavored. Tell Hinata _

_2 give him pocky too if she wants to._

_-Sakura_

Sakura threw the note over her shoulder again, and she heard Ino open it, and then pass it to her seat mate, Hinata. Hinata seemed extremely pleased with the information Sakura gave.

This time, a note was placed delicately on her lap as Hinata went passed her to get a tissue from the desk at the front of class. Instead of the usual sly and sarcastic remark from Ino, she found that the neatly folded paper was an answer sheet to the homework that the teacher just passed out. In Hinata's handwriting.

Sakura clasped her hands tightly together as if praising Hinata as she walked past her. Hinata blushed deeply and mouthed 'your welcome'.

She was free to have a romatic date with her one and only Sasuke! Sakura then proceeded to melt into jelly on her desk.

* * *

Well, the 'date' didn't go as planned at all. Sakura was indeed getting ahead of herself when she thought that it would be a romantical date with her and Sasuke. For one great factor, Naruto is a loudmouth, making it absolutely impossible to be able to hear anything Sasuke said, if he said anything at all. Sasuke couldn't be anymore silent than the time after Naruto accidentaly stole his first kiss on the first day of school. 

He probably hated them all after that. Correction, there shouldn't be a 'probably' in that sentence. He DID hate them, every single Gennin, Chunnin, Jonnin, he probably had a grudge against the Hokage himself! But that was Sasuke. Mysterious, Cool, Calm, Collected, not to mention the hottest prodigy around. Sakura's mind drifted to when Sasuke pulled his shirt off one time due to training, although she didn't get much more than a glimpse because she fainted right after that.

Sakura's cheeks flushed at the thought of his well-toned abs... to be able to put her hands on them... (At this point her fantasies become X-rated)

"Sakura?" Ino's voice almost seemed questioning.

"Ah!" Sakura sprang foreward and nearly fell out of her lounge chair, startled.

Ino seemed amused. "You hot forehead? You're flushed."

"Since when did you care about me?" Responded Sakura, hotly.

Ino's popped vein grew massive. "Don't be so cruel Forehead! And to think I even cared..." The rest was mumbled to quietly to be heard.

"Though seriously," Ten Ten piped up from Sakura's left. "You do seem a little hot."

Sakura definetly didn't want them to know she was daydreaming about Sasuke.

"W-well what do you excpect? It's not exactly the coldest of weather right now." Sakura told them while flapping her hands as if to say, 'drop it'.

In fact, it definetely wasn't cold at all. After school was dissmissed, and a few hours rolled by, the sun still hadn't decided to set and tormented them with their heat a little longer. The dog days of summer were a force to reckon with, especially when your girls-afternoon was outside. The four Gennins, Ino, Sakura, Ten Ten and Hinata all got together on the roof of their apartment complex to bathe in sun, talk, and be friends.

They actually just did it for the tan, with no real intention of becoming friends at all. But it eventually happened and they were now very close.

"I guess." Ten Ten muttered, adjusting her sunglasses to properly face the blaring sun.

"You know," Sakura drawled. "Today was such a drag." She took another sip of lemonade.

Ino's head shot up like a firecracker. "A drag!" She crowed at a now startled Sakura. "You went out to eat with Sasuke. Sasuke! God, be a little more thankful to be dining with a hunk like that."

Sakura made an unintelligable snort. "Thankful?!" She crossed her arms. "If Naruto babbling and Kakashi-sensei slurping his noodles down is something to be thankful for, than thankful my ass! It wasn't even like Sasuke cared."

"Still," Ten Ten sighed. "Eating with your crush, what an unimaginable fantasy!" She cradled her head with her hands as she blushed. Hinata blushed hotly and nodded her head furiously.

"That would b-be nice." She agreed.

Ino began to look at her polished fingers as she roasted in the sun. "Face it girls, we ALL want to be in a romantical relationship with our crushes."

"Yeah." They all chorused dreamily.

"Tch. Like that will happen." Sakura frowned, rubbing on sun tan lotion.

"Ten Ten," Ten Ten's face turned Sakura's way as she said her name. "Neji's as bad a Sasuke! He doesn't talk and it's like he's not even human!"

Ten Ten nodded her head furiously in agreement.

"Hinata," Hinata's blush grew deeper. "Naruto's too much of a dimwit to realize your feelings! And plus, he's too dense to see I hate him and YOU love him!"

Hinata sighed in defeat, knowing Sakura was right.

"And Ino," Sakura drawled. "As much as I hate you for liking Sasuke, we both know that he'll never like either of us. He's such an ice cube!"

A blush crawled on to Ino's face.

"I don't like Sasuke anymore." She muttered, averting her eyes and glaring at the floor. The other girls were immediately sparked with interest.

"You don't?!" They all sounded confused, even Hinata didn't stutter.

Ino shook her head. "I've got a new crush."

"Who!" Ten Ten practically begged her to tell.

A smile crawled onto her face. "I'm gonna win Shikamaru over!!" Ino stood up truimphantly as she said this, fist raised.

"That's even more impossible." Sakura sighed, and pushed her sunglasses to cover her eyes.

Hinata tugged at the hem of her two-piece, probably feeling uncomfortable. "I guess... t-that we all like s-someone..." She averted her white eyes. "Someone we can't have."

Maybe it was just the way she said it, but it made it feel like the boys of their dreams were like gods or something. Completely unreachable to all of them. If Ten Ten were to ask Neji, it would be a complete flunk out. Sakura asking Sasuke was out of the question, just about every single girls in Konoha had asked that. Ino and Shikamaru? He would just say 'how truoblesome'. Naruto probably wouldn't even HEAR Hinata if she asked.

They all gave a half-hearted sigh of discontent.

"I've got an idea!" Ino broke the silence.

"Amuse me." Sakura retorted, arms folded over her well endowed chest.

"Oh lord." Ten Ten muttered, looking away before it got bad as she pulled her pink bottom piece a little lower to get rid of the tan line.

"Let's all try to win them over!" Ino's arms became quite animated as they flapped about as she thought about her idea.

Sakura's frown deepened. "Who's them?" Even though she knew EXACTLY who they were.

"Our crushes!" The drink Ten Ten was holding clattered to the ground as the infamous weapon mistress's face gaped.

"WHAT?!" Sakura and Ten Ten cried in unison.

"Ino, that's got to be the lamest idea ever!" Sakura was completely against the idea.

Ino gave a sly smile. "If you don't, then I'll tell every single one of them that you like them." She threatened and watched with glee as the three girls froze.

Sakura was the first to regain her composure. "Then I'll tell Shikamaru." She glared icily.

Ino shrugged. "He'll find out eventually." Was her logic.

Ten Ten gave a growl. "I hate you." She spat out, but it only made Ino's grin grow.

"B-but isn't that rushing it a l-little?" Hinata quietly wondered out loud.

Sakura nodded her head. "Seriously! Sasuke doesn't want any commitments!"

"Neji doesn't even think of dating as a possibility..." Ten Ten's expression soured.

"Well, than we'll have to be the girls of their dreams!" Ino's logic seemed quite preturbing.

"Do we even KNOW what that is?" Sakura retorted, snatching her lemonade and taking a sip.

"Aw c'mon Sakura!" Ino pouted. "I'm sure you know what Sasuke hates about girls!"

The three other girls thought about it. Come to think of it, they did know exactly what their rushes liked and disliked in dating. Them being all on the same teams. Ino's logic was starting to make sense as Sakura wrapped her head around the idea. But it still was a long shot. Sasuke ever agreeing to go out on a date with HER is about as much of a fantasy as Naruto giving up Ramen.

"Sasuke likes girls with long hair. They need to be strong, calm, patient, non-bubbly, like him technically." She cut her rambling short.

"That's alot like Neji." Ten Ten stated. "But I don't know his preference on hair."

Ino's smirk grew. "See! You do know!"

The other girls didn't look convinced.

"Look Ino, it's just our fantasies! It's never going to come true!" Sakura told her pessimisticaly.

Ino huffed. "Just try."

The girls exchanged significant glances before nodding there heads as if making a silent agreement.

""I... I guess it c-could be worth a try." Hinata mumbled, a hand over her mouth delicately.

Ino clapped. "That's the spirit!"

Ten Ten's sour expression died down a bit. "Just don't ruin what LITTLE chance I have. Got it?"

"Yes! Yes!" Ino said dismissively.

The gleeful blonde bent down into her yellow pack to dig out something. She ended up coming out with a purple pen.

"Okay!" She raised the pen up high so it reflected in the slowly setting sun.

She began to scribble things on the backs of the girls' hands. Her handwriting was almost illegible, but it did seem to be of some usage. Usually by now Sakura would be completely against whatever the pig had brainstormed, but she had to admit. She was interested in what Ino was doing. After going to each of the girls and then writing something on herself, Ino threw the pen back into her bag non too gently.

"Done!" She smiled proudly at her work.

Sakura frowned. "Calm, cool, collective, patient, unfrequent smiles, cold?" She read over the messy notes.

"Strong, unfazed, calm, happy, attractive, blunt, knwoledgable?" Ten Ten seemed disturbed at the sloppy mess of lines on her wrist.

"Uh... what is t-this?" Hinata stuttered, also looking at her now purple scribbled wrist.

"THAT." Ino pointed to them. "Is how your supposed to act around your crushes."

The girls seemed to doubt their trust in Ino.

* * *

Sakura gave a groan. Just a few hours ago, she was sleeping rather peacefully on a comfy mattress in her room with AIRCONDITIONING in complete harmony. She should have known that her happiness was short lived. The alarm clock needed to be strangled at the moment, and she wasn't really feeling the love. As she crawled out of bed uneagerly, she remembered all Ino said with just one glance at her wirst. 

Now, she wearily glanced at her wrist again. How on Earth was she supposed to regain her composure around Sasuke? Although she is quite a profound actor, her intelligence melted at the mere thought of Sasuke. But she had to pull it together.

Either that or have the entire village and half of Suna knowing of her massive crush on the Uchiha boy.

She really felt like tearing Ino to pieces at the moment. It was all her fault she was in this mess. Sakura wouldn't be feeling like a self-concious wreck if it weren't for Ino's somehow led astray pep talk. She could only hope that something would happen differently from the usual routine with Team Seven. Hopefully, it would all pay off eventually.

Eventually anyhow.

"Just remember what Ino said." Sakura chanted, trying to get a boost of charisma by looking down at her wrist, which didn't help at all. It only made her have a sinking suspision that something would go horribly wrong. Like, Sasuke would just hate her more, if that was possible. She had to try though, the curiousity of what his actions might be was overwhelming.

"Oi! Sakura-chan!"

Sakura almost stopped in her tracks, but decided that she wouldn't be cool or cold if she did that. Instead, she trudged along the narrow path, even though she new Sasuke was probably grunting behind Naruto, trugding up the hill too. He looked so hot when he did that...

No!

Sakura's perssistence would not be wavered. She would see Sasuke's reaction to the new her! She didn't just spend an entire night cosplaying scenarios of where she would act cold near Sasuke! Okay, maybe a good two hours of around a hundred scenarios and then another five hours of sexual fantasy. But that was besides the point. That was still a decent amount of time that could have been used for beauty sleep. This would pay off! She can do this! Sasuke will be hers! That really helped her energy boost.

"Hey Sakura-chan!" Naruto panted. "Why didn't you wait?"

Sakura turned around, putting on her coldest face she could. She really wanted to just say something to the panting and tired Naruto, but her notes told her to do otherwise. Instead, she turned around and kept walking. Naruto almost seemed offended, but he was probably just confused. Once Sakura walked out of ear shot, Naruto turned around to face Sasuke.

"What do you think's up with her teme?" Naruto seemed perturbed at the cold shoulder Sakura was giving him. Sasuke seemed unfazed though.

"I don't care dobe." He spat coldly, before brushing past the blonde, leaving himn to run up behind him.

In truth, Sakura had heard their conversation, and she felt all the pent up charisma begin to drain at Sasuke's lack of emotion. It was just as if he didn't care at all. Maybe he didn't? She needed to be a little colder, and still keep calm. Maybe she should ignore Naruto more, but she did that everyday. That was a regular occurance.

Then it came to her. Maybe she should ignore him too.

Yes, that was absolutely brilliant! She knew that Sasuke probably knew of her feelings somewhat, and it would make him curious as to why she was suddenly ignoring him! Use his curiousity against him! Even though they say Curiosity killed the Cat, maybe curiosity got the cat the ultimate love instead.

"Sakura! Sakura!" Naruto called again, but she didn't stop walking. She would prove to Sasuke that she could be cool! She just needed to remember to be calm, cold, cool and collective. The four C's.

Naruto's barraging footsteps became louder. If Sakura sped up her pace, she would be avoiding him, and that wouldn't be very strong of her. She needed to stand up and face the challenge. (At least from what Ino said.)

Naruto caught up to her. "What's up with you?"

She didn't answer, she just stared rather coldly at him, causing him to stop. She walked away from him at her same pace, making sure not to speed up.

"I wonder what's wrong." He told Sasuke, who was actually being a little responsive, and looking at Sakura's form a little ways infront of them.

Naruto frowned. "Maybe you should talk to her." He suggested.

"Hn."

"Seriously! Just try it!" Naruto begged.

It wasn't like him to give into Naruto's puppy eyes, because it made him look more like a pig than anything remotely related to being cute. But, he had to silently admit, he wanted to see how Sakura would react. Just curiousity. Nothing more.

He quickened his pace, leaving Naruto behind and walking closer to Sakura. They walked side by side, but neither were saying anything. It was a disturbing silence. Sakura's heart was beating fast, but she remembered what Ino told her. No, she wouldn't give into her emotions just yet!

"Haruno-san..."

Usually, Sakura would be overjoyed at Sasuke actually saying her name. Even if it wasn't her first name! But, for some odd reason, she felt no obligation to grin and giggle and blush at the moment. Maybe she was really getting into this whole, acting-cold thing. She even impressed herself with the chilly atmosphere she created. Gauging from his reaction, he seemed a little curious.

Or maybe that was just her thinking too much. How did Shikamaru do that?

"Look, Haruno-san, I wanted to-

Even though that was probably the most Sasuke had ever said to her. EVER. In her entire life. She still gave him the coldest glare she could conjure up, and stared icily into his eyes. Her eyes seemed to turn to slits at very the intesity of her heated gaze. She stared confidently into his chocolate eyes, and didn't blush at all. He seemed taken back from her glare. He didn't even know she could glare.

That shut him up.

He even stopped walking, and Sakura passed him swiftly. Although from her retreating figure, she seemed calm and cold, she was mentally celebrating at how much emotion she saw on Sasuke's shocked face. She was enjoying this.

Naruto had just caught up to a still shocked Sasuke.

"What happened?" He gawked.

Sasuke regained his composure, and glanced towards Sakura's back. "Nothing." He muttered, before brushing past Naruto, leaving him protesting for him to wait.

Sasuke didn't know why it was affecting him so much. Maybe because Sakura was the glue that held their flimsy team together. She WAS the one who stopped Naruto and him from reeking havoc on each other. And although he sees her as a pain, he was still quite curious of what could change Sakura from her quite docile nature.

Maybe... PMS? Now he was thinking like Naruto.

Sakura's insides were still cheering, but she still remained her harsh outer exterior. She had to admit, Ino's plan was really working for her. Maybe Ino wasn't as dumb as Sakura expected her to be. Usually Ino's plans are ridiculous and not well thought out. It reminded her of Shikamaru's ingenius plans.

Come to think of it, it probably was Shikamaru's plan.

But Sakura set that thought aside. So maybe it was, but it was still working! Sakura's brain churned the ideas of what could happen next. Sasuke would just get more and more curious as to why she was being so cold! Yeah, he'd eventually fall for her, she though smugly to herself. It was all a matter of patience.

* * *

By the beginning of practice, Sakura was feeling absolutely wonderful at the feeling of Sasuke's eyes scrutinizing her every move. The best kind of spotlight she had ever been on. She could practicaly FEEL the glare he was burning at her back as she and Naruto waited patiently for their late sensei to arrive. To be under Sasuke's curious gaze.

Ah... Sakura was in heaven right now as her spirit could be seen lifting into the sky in happiness.

But then he turned away.

The feeling plummeted back into her body.

She leaned against the bridge and ressisted the urge to sigh. Too much emotion would ruin the devious plan! She just had to be patient thats all. Patient and... what was the other ones?

She gave a quick glance at her wrist, looking at the now died down color of the purple scribbles. That's right, patience and the four C's. She could do this, she could handle this.

"So anyways, I think Chicken Ramen is soo much better than Beef Ramen because-

"Naruto," Sakura started, getting the blonde's attention, and Sasuke's.

"You're annoying."

Perfect.

* * *

TBC- If you want more, and even if you don't review! I appreciate it! I'll update as soon as I can! 


	2. A

Yay! I updated! Hooray!

* * *

To say the least, the young boy had grown quite frustrated. The antagonizing figure stood next to him, glaring every so often like he was a rabid monkey or something. Uzumaki Naruto was NO monkey! But alas, the Uchiha's eyes has once again landed on the blonde with malice. What did Naruto do this time? 

Sasuke was thinking the same thing.

It had to be Naruto's fault, because Naruto ALWAYS was the one to brew up trouble, Sasuke just tagged along. And although the pranks were quite enjoyable, the punishment was yet to be in any point of the matter; as enjoyable as the pranks. Thinking with this logic, the young Uchiha had come to the conclusion that whatever had happened to the young (and as Lee calls her) youthful flower that Sakura resembled,

was all Naruto's fault.

Menawhile, near the young Uchiha, the brooding blonde was coming to the same conclusion. Sasuke had always been young-hearted love trouble for Sakura. He had a cold personality, and in Naruto's eyes, he was a psychopath. In the Kyuubi's young mind, he had devised that Sasuke had done something terrible to Sakura! Like, hit her or something! Naruto feeded himself scenarios where he would come to save Sakura from Sasuke's evil plot!

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed.

What had Naruto done to Sakura? As much as the Heartthrob hated to admit it, the dissapearance of happiness in Sakura's emotions had devasted him. Deep down, he had realized that without any happiness near him, he would be a soulless body. He would not allow himself to have happiness, so he took pleasure in being around those who did have it.

But there was no happiness in sight.

Naruto pouted. "Sakura-chan!"

No answer.

"Sakura-chan!!!"

Nope.

"Sakura-CHAN!!!!!!"

"Yo!"

All heads turned around sans Sakura (Who was still looking away) to see another figure standing on the lonesome bridge. The Jonnin's silver hair stuck up in different angles, making the waves of his hair float on top of his head.

His only visible eye showed confusion. "What's with all the long faces?"

Naruto was droning in his ear as he stared at his other to Gennins. As per usual, the Uchiha prodigy was lofting on the bridge staring off into space, that wasn't unusual. Sasuke was in his normal position of leaning against the wall of the bridge with a brooding face, glaring at something unseen. But what bothered him, was that Sakura was rather quiet.

Quiet being an understatement.

She was as cold as ever. Completely ignoring the rest of the world in a very Sasuke-like manner. Her usual happy face that accompanied Naruto in yelling in his ear about his tardiness, had apted for an unreadable face as she sat on the rim of the bridge. The soft breeze played with her hair per usual, but the happy atmosphere of team seven was gone.

That's when Kakashi remembered something rather strange. Gai had complained about the same cold exterior coming from his own female Gennin, TenTen. Kurenai had explained of a sudden outburst of emotion from Hinata, and noted that there were purple scribbles on her wrist. Even Asuma had said that instead of the usual flirty and emotional Ino, she had been replaced with a calm woman who busied herself with cloud gazing.

The teacher's eyes narrowed at the thought.

Naruto waved a hand. "Oi! Kakashi-sensei! Are we starting?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Kakashi turned to his students, all waiting for an answer. Naruto's azure eyes looked like saucers as he impatiently waited, tapping a foot. Sasuke was glaring at him like he was an S-class criminal, but he gave those scrutinizing glares to everyone. Sakura was glaring at him too, as if copying Sasuke's cold glare.

Kakashi had almost completely forgotten about the question. "Uh, sure! Sasuke and Naruto, and Sakura and I will be sparring."

Naruto immediately cheered, chanting about how he would finally take his success in beating Sasuke. On the other hand, Sasuke was brooding over the fact that he was stuck sparring with the knucklehead. Sakura seemed to have no personal opinion on the entirety of his desicion. As the two other Gennins crossed over into the field, the teacher walked over to his other student. Sakura saw him coming and immediately ducked behind her two other team mates and followed in suit, trying to stay covered from her sensei's unwavering gaze.

That's when he saw it, the purple scribbles over her left wrist.

His eyes widened the second he saw it. What had happened? Was it some kind of jutsu? Was some one controlling or impersonating the female Gennins of Konoha? It could be a trap, so Kakashi made sure not to come into Sakura's eye sight. It could be Orochimaru, or even Akatsuki or other villages planning to gather information on Konoha.

"Sakura, we'll train over here." He called.

The said girl looked up, and a look of fear crossed her eyes before they turned dull again.

She looked at the ground. "Sure."

The two walked silently away from the other two sparring Gennins. Tension ran high as the two simultaneously walked together in tense silence. Thoughts running throuhg their heads violently, each making their own assumptions on the matter at hand. Finally reaching the next training ground, way out of ear shot to any other ninja, and Kakashi turned around.

His one eye narrowed. "Who are you?"

Sakura ressisted the urge to fall over. "I'm me Kakashi-sensei."

He shook his head. "Sakura isn't as cold as you are acting."

"Oh that?" Sakura seemed relieved. "It's just like some little bet." Kakashi raised a brow.

"A bet?" He began. "Then what are those scribbles? A Genjutsu?"

Sakura shook her head. "That's Ino's terrible handwriting."

"Ino's?" He repeated, sounding confused.

"Uh... it's a long story." Sakura blushed at the thought of telling the story. Inevitably, she'd have to tell about her crush. She really didn't think that Kakashi would tell anyone, but just the fact of repeating about her major crush would give her more butterflies in her stomach than she could handle. Giving her a Hinata-effect and fainting. She prayed he took the hint and wouldn't pry.

Kakashi looked around. "I have time."

But he did the opposite.

"Well," Sakura poked her two index fingers together. "I have a really major crush on someone."

"Does that have anything to so with the matter at hand?"

Sakura blushed. "Yes. Ino was just helping me by giving me pointers." She pointed to the scribbles.

"You mean to impress Sasuke?" He smirked.

Sakura's eyes widened. "How did you-

"Painfully obvious." He deadpanned.

Sakura fell over. "Aw man..." She moaned at her complete obliviousy to notice that her crush was so obvious! And as Kakashi put it, so 'painfull obvious' that probably Konoha knew! That also includes all the Gennins, the majority of people she didn't want to know, and the complete knucklehead, Naruto. Not to mention Sasuke.

Kakashi waved her off. "Don't worry, Sasuke doesn't know."

The butterflies went away.

"But I'd suspect most of Konoha knows by now." He added.

The butterflies came back again.

"Like that's any better." She spat.

He merely shrugged. "I could tell him you know-

"That's okay Kakashi-sensei! No need to get involved. " She muttered sarcastically. "Not as if the rest of the world hasn't already."

He laughed. "Well Sakura-chan, no one ever said love was easy."

And he was right, no one had ever said love was easy. In fact, most people said that it was the hardest thing to accomplish. But the reward is suppose to be great, which is why everyone says that true love conquers all. That everything and everyone would eventually find peace in the warmth of love, becuase love will eventually be in everyone.

Apparently, no one had ever planned for Sasuke Uchiha.

Love seemed to be the least of his problems. The human ice cube who has nothing good to say-and in Sakura's eyes, will never have anything good to say- has probably never had the thought of love cross his mind. Because the only thing he can think about is training... and more training. There is no love in his schedule. In her eyes anyways.

"Woohoo!"

Two heads looked up as birds began to fly out of the trees. Wild screams erupted through the trainig grounds, hollers of achievement apparently. Strangly sounding like a male's voice and had a Naruto-ish ring to the "Believe it!" That was chanted every so often inbetween "Yeah!" and "Woohoo!".

Come to think of it, it probably was Naruto.

"Hahaha! I beat you Sasuke!"

Yeah, that's Naruto.

As if on cue, the blonde popped out of the bushes with unknwon energy. Sure, he had many bruises, perhaps a few broken bones, and an assorment of cuts that varied in size, but he was still the same Naruto. Yep, boundless energy that would surpess even a person high on crack. And he didn't even need drugs! Now only if he wasn't so annoying.

Naruto beamed. "Sakura-chan! Guess what? I beat him! I beat Sasuke-teme!"

Sakura was about to cheer, but she quickly remembered the notes. "Oh."

Even so, Naruto's cheery dispostion hadn't changed. "Believe It! I-

"You didn't beat me." Another figure came out of the brambles. "We tied."

"Nuh-uh! I sooo beat you! You fell on the ground first! I sooo won!" Naruto fumed.

"No, we fell at the same time." Sasuke argued, a decent amount of damage on himself too.

Naruto frowned. "What?! You fell first!"

"Who are you kidding? You hit the ground the same time as me." Sasuke scowled.

Naruto made a 'pfft' sound. "Yeah right!"

Sasuke growled. "You know it!"

"I was being sarcastic! Just because I won!" Naruto smiled.

"You didn't win!" Sasuke retorted.

Naruto growled. "God, don't have a stick up your ass!"

"Dobe!" Sasuke shot back.

"Whatever it is it's, sideways." Naruto mumbled.

Sasuke seemed annoyed. "Stupid Fox."

Naruto snapped. "Stop being such a god damn bastard! No wonder no one loves you!"

That DEFINETELY struck a nerve. Sasuke's eyes were covered by raven bangs. It had gotten so quite that you could here the wind whisper through the trees. Even the usual Naruto-loud-mouth was silent, eyes wide, as he realized his mistake. The young Uchiha's fist clenched together, so tight they almost drew blood, and he began shivering.

Naruto apparently thought he was crying. "Uh... I-

"You know what!?" Sasuke was pissed. "I don't care! I **HATE ALL OF YOU**!"

That felt like an arrow had found itself pierced into Sakura's chest. Out of all of the team members, she seemed like she was the most devestated. A look of absolute shock came over her face, eyes wide, mouth slightly agape. The kunai in her hands clattered to the ground as she lost her grip on them. She looked like she was shocked.

But should she really be shocked? It is Sasuke we're talking about.

Sasuke Uchiha isn't suppose to love anyone. Yet Naruto's words seemed to strike a deep fury in his dark, wallowing heart. If he had a heart that is. Kakashi hadn't even given his scowl words a second thought, and to prove it, as per usual his head was stuck in a sexual fantasized book. Known as Icha Icha Paradise, volume 2, chapter 3. To be percise.

Sakura felt as if her world had just crumbled. All the effort she had created into perfecting herself for him was all in vain. She was back to square one, more like square -1 in his eyes. His weak little team mate, whom he now officially hates. She could almost feel the deep hatred in his chakra. It scared her, but most of all, it hurt her.

She felt her eyes tear up.

But she couldn't just burst into tears because what Sasuke said hurt her. That would be weak of her, and the last thing she wanted to happen was for Sasuke to forlornly believe that she was weak. But even if she did prove herself, he would still do it anyways. The least she could do is save herself some face and run off.

That sounded like a good idea.

Without another second thought, she dissapeared into the bushes as the two boys began another glaring contest. She was gone by the time they had time to blink.

She couldn't think about anything else, not her hunger, her fears (seeing as though her worst one just came true), her loved ones, nothing. The only thing that she could see in her cloudy, hazed eyesight was his angered face as he proclaimed his deep hatred for his team. Those words rang in her head like a broken record.

She didn't even realize she bumped into a tree.

In fact, she didn't know where in Konoha she was, except for the fact she was somewhere far away from the city. But no matter how hard she ran, or how many trees she passed, she was never far away enough from him. That stupid boy, the cold and heartless bastard who couldn't care less if she died that day.

He probably wouldn't care if all of Konoha died.

Before she knew it, the tears spilt over and began to fall. They fell from her misty eyes like small twinkling diamonds, sparkling in what little light there was inbetween the canopy of trees. She tried to stop, but the only thing she could do know was sob and try to wipe them away. But not even that helped much at all. Her cheeks became rosy red and she dropped to her knees, sobbing in her hands.

She hadn't even noticed it had started to drizzle. A light shower of droplets fell around her. And then she still hadn't realized when it started storming, thousands of droplets pelting the ground. Even though it would be stupid to avoid getting wet now, she was already soaked through her clothes.

Her hair was dripping water, and her hunched form was holding herself in a field of flowers. A beautiful field of many colorful flowers that seemed gloomy with the weather. Her hair blended in with all the pink flowers in the small field. She was too busy sobbing to hear anyting aside from the splatter fo the rain.

Not even footsteps behind her.

Sasuke's footsteps.

* * *

Before she knew anything that was happening, she was already embraced in a warm hug. It felt really good, like the ones where you just want to melt on the floor and hope the feeling lasts forever. It felt great, to be in Sasuke's hug like this. She felt his arms clench around her, as if he never wanted to let go. His face came to her ear. 

"I'm really, really, sorry." He breathed, hoping she didn't know how badly he was blushing.

She was blushing too. "Sasuke-kun..." She mumbled into his hair.

He suddenly pulled away, no real evident emotion on his face, he wiped it all away before she realized it. "Well?"

Sakura snapped back into reality. "Uh, what?"

"Do you forgive me?" He asked.

She couldn't believe his words, they sounded so serene, almost, like he was really truelly sorry. But Sakura could only believe that half-heartedly since she had never seen Sasuke anywhere near emotional. It isn't even particularly Sasuke-ish to apologize at all, so it was probably Kakashi and Naruto who put him to this.

It was probably Kakashi or Naruto disguised as Sasuke anyways.

Sakura growled at the thought. "Naruto, stop fooling around!"

Sasuke looked at her suspicously. "Naruto?" He repeated.

Sakura had already realized that it was hopeless to try and get Naruto to stop copying Sasuke with words. Now, the next best thing would have to be to hurt him in some physical way so that he'll admit defeat. She had a plan. Without a second thought, she yanked his ear as hard as he could.

"Ow! Sakura-chan stop-" He realized his mistake, Sasuke would never call Sakura, Sakura-chan.

"Naruto! Don't ever do this stunt again! Got that?!" She fumed.

"Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to-

"Just go away." She cut him off. Reluctantly, the boy began to move, poofing out of Sasuke, and turning back to Naruto. The girl turned away agian and walked in the other direction, extremely pissed. Well, Naruto's ingenius plan wasn't so genius anymore. Damn, he should've gotten Shikamaru's help on this one.

She briskly walked away, not giving a care in the world, aside from the emotional hurt in her heart. How could she ever think that Sasuke would ever come and apologize to her? He barely even talked to her, so unless a torture chamber was involved, he would NEVER even think twice about apologizing to her. He was heartless.

She didn't want to be in love with him, he was so cold, mean, and cruel that she was debaiting weather she was in love with a human being or a statue. Unless he had one of those world revelations that you see in the movies where the grim reaper takes you to try and realize your mistakes; he wasn't changing.

"I wish I didn't have emotions." She sighed wistfully as she leaned against a tree.

It wasn't very safe to be all alone in a forest, even if it was in Konoha. You never know what sort of trouble you run into. Naruto went into the forest by himslef once, and he ended up falling out of a tree and breaking his arm! But that was just Naruto. She wasn't even in a danger zone, just simply leaning against a tree in the middle of the forest. Although she should be practicing fo the Chuunin exams.

"I'd wish for that too."

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the new voice. It wasn't very familiar, she had never heard it before. She new practically everyone in Konoha, memorizing their appearance, looks, and voice. But this one was new, which meant it could either be some of the few ANBU she didn't know or... an attacker. But he seemed friendly. So not paying any attention to the old annecdotes about talking to strangers, she decided to talk to him anyways.

"Really?" She muttered into the tree.

"Emotions aren't meant for Shinobi."

He was starting to seem alot like Sasuke.

"True." She agreed. "But I like to think that emotions can be a good thing."

"The only thing emotions are good for is getting yourself killed."

That did seem like something Sasuke would say. But there was only one way to prove that this person was not Sasuke. She knew for a fact that Sasuke was the last survivor of the Uchiha clan and that all his relatives were dead.

"Hey," She drawled, "Do you have any siblings?"

"Yes." Came her immediate reply.

Maybe it wasn't Sasuke after all, his voice definetely wasn't the same.

"How many?" She questioned.

"Two."

Two? She was fairly sure that Sasuke was an only child (Apparently she doesn't know about Itachi!) and he was the only survivor of the clan who was around his age. Then again, Sasuke never talked about his past. She could never be sure that Sasuke did have siblings, even though she didn't fully believe that.

"What's you name?" She asked him, but really, it looked like she was asking the tree from the way she was staring at it. She was pretty sure the boy was on the other side of the tree.

After a few seconds, he answered. "Shukaku." But it sounded like he was lying. She knew for a fact this wasn't Sasuke, but he was lying about his name.

"And you?" He asked her.

"Um..." She tried to think of a name. "Mamiko." She lied through her teeth.

She had to know who this was. Was it Sasuke? Naruto? Kakashi? Anyone she knew of? Was it an attacker? Could this person be trying to milk out information from he for whatever country he came form? She had to know. She had to see what he looked like. Curiousity was getting the better of her.

Without a second thought, she whirled around.

No one. Who ever was there had already left. The only thing in his trace was a black, tapered cloth. Subconciously, she pulled out her lucky charm; the Uchiha logo on the small piece of Sasuke's shirt she had. Comparing them, they definetely didn't belong the same person. She looked around, but there wasn't even a trace of another person even being there.

She was starting to wonder if she had lost it yet.

Anyhow, this was something she would have to tell at the girls' afternoon.

* * *

Ino took a long sip out of her coke bottle. "So, me and Shikamaru had the best time cloud gazing." she sighed sarcastically. 

"Shock!" TenTen deadpanned. "You had fun cloud gazing!"

"Yes!" Ino cheered. "We talked! And we're getting to know each other better! Like, I never knew that he liked carbonated water!"

"That's some real progress pig." Sakura laughed.

Ino fumed. "Yeah, I bet you didn't steal Sasuke's heart yet!"

Sakura lazily reached into her pocket and took out her 'lucky charm'. Gasps were heard around the room.

TenTen was shocked. "You did THE deed?!?!"

Sakura flushed. "N-no! It's my lucky charm!"

"You're ubssesive." Ino snorted.

"It's still more progress than you made pig!" Sakura retorted.

Ino gave a sly look. "Are you so sure?" The girls gave their full attention.

"You see, now officially, Shikamaru and I are good friends! He told me that he thinks that I'm alot better than before!" Ino boasted.

"Wow!" Sakura exclaimed sarcastically.

"Man!" TenTen moaned. "Neji still ignored me! God, he's the hardest egg to crack! Not even a glance in my direction!" She flopped over in her chair. For a few moments, the only thing heard was the rain outside of Ino's apartment the girls' were crammed into.

"W-well." Hinata looked at the ground. "I spoke t-to Naruto today." She muttered quietly.

"Oooh! Someone's got some good luck!" Sakura commented slyly.

"H-he asked me..." The girl's face heated up.

TenTen bolted from her chair. "What? What did he ask?!"

"H-he... me..."

She wasn't making much sense now.

"Speak coherently." Ino sipped her coke. Sakura nodded.

"We ate Ramen together!" She fainted, Hinata style (Falling backwards) of course.

"How romantic!" TenTen exclaimed.

"Better than me." Ino mumbled.

Sakura looked suspicious. "He better not have made her pay for it."

"What about you Sakura?" TenTen asked from the kitchen as she went to grab smelling salts.

Sakura put her cup down. "I met a new guy."

Ino's jaw fell. "What?!? Hotter than Sasuke?!?!"

"As if! No one beats that hunk!" TenTen yelled, her head poking out of a cup board.

"No, he's not hotter. Well... I dunno." Sakura's voice dwindled.

Ino leaned closer. "So he was pretty hot then?"

"That's the thing! I didn't see him!" Sakura sighed, head in her hand.

TenTen kneeled near Hinata. "How does that happen?" She rubbed the salts under the fainted girl's nose.

Sakura sighed. "I'll start from the beginning. Sasuke was pretty interested at my new behavior for most of the morning."

"Pfft. The morning!" Ino repeated, rolling her eyes.

"But then him and Naruto got into a fight, and Sasuke said he hated everyone of us."

"How Sasuke-ish." TenTen commented as Hinata woke up.

"So I ran into the forest, crying a little. But then Naruto came soon after pretending to be Sasuke and apologizing, but it didn't help much." Sakura continued.

"Yeah, Yeah. What does this have to do with the new guy?!" Ino flapped her hand impatiently.

Sakura sighed. "That's the thing! I ran off from Naruto, and ended up talking with some guy I didn't even know! I wasn't able to see him because he was on the other side of the tree!"

TenTen made a face. "How did you know that wasn't Sasuke?"

"He said he had two siblings." She explained, and the girls didn't question.

"Still, that's more interesting than my day. Cloud gazing has to be the worst activity in the world! Guess what I saw today? A cloud that looked like a duck!" Ino mumbled, taking another sip of coke.

"What about you Hinata?" TenTen asked the girl.

"M-me and Naruto, we..." Hinata's eyes went around the room. "We talked."

"At least you talked to your crushes. I think I've turned into a wooden pole. It certainly would explain why Neji never talks to me!" TenTen growled.

"Um..." Hinata began. "Neji enjoys... um... he really likes gardening. H-he has many books."

The girl's eyes grew.

"Eww... I used to think he was cool but I think I've gone off him now." Sakura cringed.

Ino sighed. "Isn't that a shocker!"

"Wow." TenTen seemed shocked, but she recovered. "That settles it! I'm going to get into gardening too!"

She turned to Hinata. "Any other hobbies?"

Hinata looked thoughtful. "Well, training. And I t-think he l-likes poetry."

"Poetry it is! I'm gonna practice right now! I'm pretty sure my Uncle gave me a book about it. God knows I'd actually use it." TenTen was sure enthusiasctic.

"Well, since Shikamaru likes cloud gazing and laziness, I've decided to slack off and be less up tight!" Ino cheered.

"I'll try not to stutter." Hinata promised. "And be stronger."

"I'll be voidless of emotion!" Sakura raised her hands triumphantly.

Their plans have now been set in motion.

* * *

TBC- Please review! 


	3. P

Hee Hee, new chappie

* * *

On more than one of the many occasions, Sakura Haruno found herself gazing into the welcoming doors of daydreaming. A favorite past time, and in truth, it always proceeded to make her feel better after getting an hours worth. However, by the end of her perfect ending of marriage, she realized that the object of her affections was clearly staring back at her. 

Loathing every inch of her.

It pained her, how she could think so stupidly, to believe that Sasuke would be incompenent enough to not catch her looking wistfully at him. All the girls do that, as if there was all the dignity in the world to look at Sasuke as he did what he did every day. In fact, it was probably the worst thing that a girl who was trying to win the Uchiha's heart could do.

But she did it anyways.

Maybe because it gave her great pleasure -aside from sidestepping a leathal hug from Naruto- whenever she looked at him, stars in the background and there was nothing else but the two of them. Of course, those few and far between moments were usually ruined by a perssistent orange blob that always proceeded to hug them. However, compliments to Ino, she was no longer day dreaming.

No matter how much it pained her.

In true point, she was completely ignoring the young boy, much to her heart's dissapointment. She couldn't help but wonder if he had noticed yet. It had been, maybe a good three days. Ignoring him was a tough a trying to balance yourself on your finger to meditate with Naruto yelling in your ear. That's right absolutely ignoring him, hadn't said a word in three straight days. (But she did then proceed to squeal into her pillow)

And that was downright hard. Especially when she was trying her best to do finger push-ups, when Naruto is talking about chiken flavored Ramen, and Sasuke is glaring at her with his usual cold-hearted stare. But it was happenning now, and she had to be strong, for him, and for herself. She wouldn't let herself down, and have to surrender to Ino and lose her bet.

She would be voidless of emotion!

"So, I was going to Ichiraku's yesterday when I noticed that there was this new Ramen flavor-

"1000!" She rudely interrupted the boy. She collapsed in a heap on the ground, too tired to do much else but try to drone out Naruto's rambling with the sounds of nature. Which were more like the sound of Ino's voice in her head telling her to stop daydreaming.

One-sided love was just too hard. And the cruel hearted object of her affections wasn't going any easier on her.

She slowly sat up as Naruto began to do his push-ups, ranting as he did so. She ressisted the urge to look at the young Uchiha boy, who her heart belonged too. She was really having alot of trouble from averting her eyes to look at his well-toned chest, and fantasize all about the two of them... There she went, she turned her head a millimeter before quickly pulling it in the other direction.

That's when she had another idea.

She quickly got up, unknown that a pair of eyes were looking at her, and walked away. Kakashi, too preoccupied with his new issue of Icha Icha Paradise, volume 7, Icha Icha Chaos, to notice her leave. The Uchiha however, wasn't as lazy, and her actions didn't go unnoticed, as she walked behind a tree.

It didn't matter much to him, she was just going out of his sight. What did pain him, was that the Kunoichi hasn't said a word in over a day, three days to be precise. What could have occured? Looking at the tree she was behind, he had to wonder happened. More importantly, how to coax it out of her and how to approach her about it. It was very un Sasuke-ish like for him to care about her.

Finally out of his sight, she wipped out a cloth as she leaned against the tree. There it was, her most prized possesion, in all of her existence did she have something that she protected as much as this one cloth. The perfect and wonderful Uchiha Fan imprinted into the center of the soft tapered blue shirt... Sasuke's shirt.

Her one peice of Sasuke. And the beginning of her ultimate dream.

She hadn't realized the footsteps behind her. It was almost too late to shove the small cloth into her pocket, along side the black one she had gotten from the tree.

He frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." She gulped.

"Yes you are." He detested.

"Why do you care?" She shot back, or should be said, Inner Sakura.

He instantly realized her was cornered. "I don't."

"Then don't ask unnecesary questions." She retorted.

That was the end of it. On Sakura's part, she was extremely pleased with herself. Never had she though that she would ever be that bold, without the help of inner Sakura, she probably wouldn't have been either. But she did impress herself, those small therapy sessions with Ino were starting to pay off big time.

On Sasuke's part, he was rather confused. If it wasn't as obvious as necessary that Sakura liked him, his mind couldn't even consider what could be. But however, this new and radical behavior from Sakura was intriuging him. He couldn't help but wonder what could have affected her to change her usual personality. He almost immediately assumed the worst. Rape.

With Sakura, she was still celebrating her samll won victory. Even though there small bantering had been literally less that 45 seconds, it felt like Sakura had just become Chuunin or something. It was one step closer to her imanent goal, the imagery of all her fantasies. A beautiful and perfect first kiss from Sasuke. And she was taking small steps towards that rather oversized and over fantasized goal.

Making her small piece of Sasuke become the real Sasuke.

She clenched the cloth in her pocket subconsiously as she hoisted herself off from leaning against the tree and to go to her teammates. Naruto lay exhausted on the ground after his workout, panting ever so often, muttering words like Ramen and Chicken Ramen, which were his two all time used words at the moment. She was about to say something when her sensei beat her to it.

"Mm-kay, you can all go." He mumbled, absent-mindely flipping another page in his book, not sparring his Gennins even a glance from his hooded eye.

Naruto bolted. "Finally! Ichiruka, here I come!" he immediately tore off into the direction of the infamous Ramen Stand.

Sasuke muttered something like a "hn" and left in the opposite direction, to probably go home. In solitude. Like always. It was beginning to bother her, why did he chose to be alone? She truly fell in love with a person she almost relatively knew nothing about. The sad part was, that that particular boy wouldn't have even spared her a glance.

She had no place to go, no home to go back to, and it was too early for the usual girl's afternoon. While looking at the sun, she realized that today was a perfect day for tanning, and that was probably what they would do. Tan. And talk about boys. Talk about their progress, and talk about any new hot guys that they've seen recently.

That reminded her...

She was walking aimlessly. Again. After realizing that there was no point in going back to her apartment, she had decided to just wander the forest. As if she was trying to meditate, or focus her thoughts on Sasuke. Yes, Sasuke. The boy who ripped her heart out and claimed it for his own with just a glance at her. 

But at the moment, Sasuke was now where near her thoughts.

All she could do was think about that boy. The on she knew less about than Sasuke, but she felt a pull so strong to get to know him better. He seemed so unatainable, farther from her reach that Sasuke, and more eager for conversation, more eager for company. Wrapping her head around the idea, she realized that this new boy, this new opening, was exactly what she needed.

And at the moment, she had a new feeling in her chest.

She wasn't thinking as much about as Sasuke, realeasing her steel like grip around his neck, giving him space. That's what couples do right? They love eachother, but they respect eachother's space. And even though they weren't a couple, she would always be faithful. Which brought her to her next feeling that coiled in her stomach.

Was she betraying Sasuke by wanting this?

She was unsure. They weren't even a couple, so techinically she wouldn't be cheating on him by talking with this mysterious man. But that feeling is what bothered her the most. In was a feeling that almost always belonged together with a mental picture of Sasuke. A feeling she didn't know she could feel for anyone else aside from the young Uchiha heartthrob.

As if on cue, she walked aimlessly into a very familiar clearing, the clearing where she met him. Well, not really met, more like had a slight conversation. If you could call that a meeting at all. The flowers danced in the breeze, some being flattened as she stepped on them to get closer to the large tree. The tree where she met him.

"Are you there?" She couldn't believe how fragile her voice sounded. She had been practicing how to sound and act for 3 full nights, and it still didn't seem to pay off.

She waited patiently for an answer to her question.

But she was greeted by silence.

She sighed, and leaned against the tree, a wave of nostalgia engulfing her as she realized that she was leaning like this when she first heard his voice. A voice unlike any other she had ever heard. Naruto's was loud, and almost annoying. Sasuke's deep and calm, and Kakashi's sounded like a man of wisdom, hidden beneath the surface. But she couldn't pinpoint his voice. Like a lulling or drone that welcomed you.

"Yes."

She was startled by the new voice. But it was just like she remember, deep and lulling. "How are you?" She asked, nervously.

"As good as I'll ever be."

He sounded like he was in pain. Like he hated his life. It reminded her a little of Sasuke, when he said that his goal was to kill a certain man who wronged him in the past. And a little like Naruto, on one of his good days when he wasn't as annoying, when he talked about his past. And also like Kakashi, when he surprisingly said something wise. He sounded like all of them.

She bit her lip. "So, what did you do for the last few days?"

"Trained."

She shouldn't have been shocked, she always seemed to fall for the uncaring bastards. But his closeness to Sasuke was endearing. She knew she shouldn't think of this mysterious boy as Sasuke's replacement, but she seemed to be doing it anyways.

"That's it?" She mumbled.

"Yes."

She frowned. "Don't you ever get tired of training?"

"Not usually."

A question popped into her head. "Why are you here then?" Why would he be here, in the middle of a flower garden if he always trained?

"I was waiting."

Waiting? For what? She decided to ask. "What were you waiting for?"

"You."

That was surprising. It wasn't usual that people took an unusual interest to her. And if she was someone else, she wouldn't want to spend time with herself either. But this mysterious man, whom she knows around nothing about, had taken a sudden interest to her? That was an amazement in itself. Much less her actually confessed it to her with a straight face (As far as she could tell), something Sasuke could never do. If Sasuke ever felt that way anyways.

"Really?" She was shocked.

"Your interseting to talk to."

"I'm interesting..." She echoed, confused.

"You seem to doubt yourself."

He was right, she did doubt hereslf. Sasuke was really getting to her. Sakura sighed. "I guess I do doubt myself." She admitted.

"Don't."

She was confused. "Don't what?"

"Don't doubt yourself. You're better than that."

That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her. "Thanks." She smiled.

"Y'know," She started, looking at the sky. "Your one of my best friends."

She seemed to have caught her mystery man off guard. And she heard a rustling sound, like he was turning around to look at her. She was excieted, she might just see her mystery man! The one she had been thinking about (Aside from nonstop Sasuke dreaming) for the last few days. The one she talked about in the Girl's Afternoon.

"Oi! There you are!"

Damn Naruto.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to Ichiruka's!"

Damn him.

"I accidently forgot to ask you if you wanted to come too!"

He just ruined her only chance of seeing her mystery man.

"No." She scowled, already knowing that the mysterious person had fled. And it was all Naruto's fault. She could've seen his face! Known who he was! Had a relationship with him! Maybe even forget about Sasuke for a little bit! So many possibilities shattered by Naruto's booming voice.

"Aw..." Naruto whined. "Are you sure? We're all coming!"

That once again stopped her in her tracks. He had said, 'we're'. Or in her translation, Sasuke was going to. She felt like she was stretched like taffy. Who did she want to go to? Sasuke, or this new man? One side wanted to dare to go into this new and untraveled road, while the ohter wanted to go same old, trying to grab a piece of Sasuke.

She managed to grumble. "I guess."

Same old road it was.

* * *

Shikamaru pointed skywards. "See, that one looks a little like a leaf." 

"Mm-hm." Ino agreed, half-mindedly.

Ino wasn't enjoying her time with Shikamaru. As she found to be one of her favortie past times, gazing at Shikamaru's face could keep her occupied forever. Or at least, she thought. As they grew closer with every passing minute, Ino found that even Shikamaru's face was not enough to keep her occupied.

At least when they were cloud gazing anyhow.

She really turly couldn't stand it. When people say that couples share every aspect fo their lives, every waking moment with eachother and love every minute of it; Ino didn't believe any of that. She just couldn't. No matter how hard she stared at thos clouds, they looked like clouds. There wasn't any way that they would be changing.

Gazing upwards, she could only look at endless blue, that was starting to look like the sapphire blue that outlined the Konoha shopping district. The clouds that once looked like fluffy fur balls, now were forming to be in-style apparel. Even the little outline of trees she could see in her vision were starting to transform into various shoes.

"Ino?"

She immediately snapped back.

"Yeah?" She answered.

"We should get going." He stood up, and dusted himself off while stretching.

Ino stood up to, blushing rather slightly when realization hit her fully that hse spent an entire hour sitting around with Shikamaru. That's right, her long lasting love with Sasuke, dissapaited almost immediately on a fateful afternoon with Shikamaru. And although she was no longer rivalring for Sasuke's love, her and Sakura were still not on good terms.

"Oi!"

Shikamaru and Ino both turned around to see two people heading there way. One clearly identified as Lee, by his terrible fashion sense, and TenTen, by her hair. In clear amazement, and upon closer look, another form was spotted. Leaning against the tree, to TenTen's left. Hyuga Neji. How the hell they dragged Neji, was a mystery beyond them all.

"Hey guys!" Ino waved enthusiastically. Shikamaru gave a lazy smile.

TenTen ran closer, the other two slowly following suit and walking towards the two cloud gazers. Ino ran over to TenTen, and unbeknown to the other watchers, Ino slipped a small piece of paper into TenTen's hand as she shook it. A perfect plan to give away secret messages. It was a performed perfectly, and it could have went unnoticed, but there was one problem.

Neji was part of the Hyuga clan, which technically means one thing; Byakugan. He definetely saw that.

It left him scowling, the small slip of paper. He in truth, had no intention of wanting to know what that is, but it was proving to be interesting at the moment. Now he wasn't neccesarily suggesting that Ino and TenTen were part of another village. For heaven's sake, he has enough background knowlegde to prove that neither of the two have ever really stepped out of Konoha. But there was another reason for his curiousity.

Even though Hyuga Neji would ever admit it, he was quite a gossip keeper.

Overhearing small conversation, or realizing hidden feelings way before anyone else noticed, Neji had gained reasonable knowledge onteh other nine Gennins of Konoha. And not just the wimpy facts, like Sakura is ubsessing over Sasuke, but more of that Ino has a new crush on Shikamaru. Something eh was fairly sure none of the other Gennins knew about.

He was going to get his hands on that paper.

"Well, nice running into you guys!" TenTen waved goodbye.

Ino smiled. "See ya!"

And the five Gennins departed their ways.

Since they left, never once had Neji's eyes left TenTen's small slip of paper. From the looks of it, whatever was scribbled on the inside, was practically unreadable, no thanks to Ino's illegible handwriting. And as if expected, TenTen, who had been palming the paper, slipped it into her back pocket, little known to her that it was still showing a little.

Neji found this as a pefrect time to steal it.

As Lee continued babbling as the trio were walking, Neji made a bee line towards TenTen. Making sure his actions went unnoticed, he quickly grabbed the small piece of paper from TenTen's back pocket. She swiftly turned around at the slight feeling she felt on her butt. Of course, Neji had quickly returned to his original spot to TenTen's left, shoving the paper into his pocket.

TenTen hated the feeling of being felt up. Now she wasn't blaming her other two _male _teamates per say, but she was itching to ask. Hence, her foul mood as she prodded along sullenly with a babbling Lee and stoic Neji. She never once bothered to ask either, seeing as though the matter at hand could only have been done by a poltergeist of sorts.

"Oh my glorious TenTen, where are we?" Lee practically sang, twirling his head to look at the unfamiliar path they were on.

TenTen only seemed to make a grunt in her mood.

"More of," Lee pondered. "How long until we get there?"

It could have been the way he asked like he came out of a Shakespeare play that made her growl. "Oh, Lee, you're like those annoying brats who always ask 'are we there yet?' You know what? I could kick them all."

That being the pure reason why Lee stayed away from TenTen for the rest of the trip.

* * *

Sadly, the rain shower that had came and brought cold air yesterday had decided to subside and bring new heat to Konoha. And sadly enough, it just happened to be summer. Sakura always loved summer, the only drive that kept her through Winter and Autumn. But summer always seemed to bring heat trouble to Konoha. Those heated summer days that made Sakura hunt for an inexcusebly large fridge to sulk in. 

That fridge this year, happened to be Ino's.

"So anywyas, let me just get some water and we can get to the roof." Ino explained, opening her apartment door and rushing to the frige, TenTen following her.

Ino began to hunt for neccesary items. "Ah sunscreen, towel, sunglasses..." She put a hand on her chin. "The last thing I need is water."

And as she opened the fridge door to grab it, she found herself screaming. "What the Hell?!?!"

'What the hell' was right. "Sakura!" Ino gaped. "What the hell are you doing in my _fridge_!?"

Sakura's glare scrutinized to Ino's hand. "Why is your hand on my _nose_?"

Ino immediately dropped her hand. "Yeah well, last time I checked my fridge was for food."

"Pfft. Can you feel how hot it is? This friggin' building has no air conditioning! Plus, my fridge isn't big enough." Sakura proceeded to eat another strawberry from a bag in Ino's fridge.

Ino's mood turned sour." Ew! Just get out of my fridge!" She shoved Sakura out to grab some water.

With the confusion sorted out, and Sakura out of the fridge, the trio made their trek up the thousands of stairs. To say the least, the girls did this every summer, the stairs just being the only method of getting there without scaling the building with perfect chakra control. (Sakura's oh so wonderful method) But Ino being well, Ino, had filed a complaint to the land lord, asking for an elevator. Which was quikly denied.

Usually, the girls would all go together, making there trek up the series of flights, chattering away with dry humor or puns about their teammates, Even sometimes, quarelling about who's crush was hotter, in which Hinata was immediately thrown out of, no thanks to Naruto's inabillity to keep his mouth shut. Usually, after debaiting over Shikamaru's laziness, either Neji or Sasuke usually won, seeing as how both of them are prodigies and are heartless.

After reaching the sixteenth flight, bundles in their arms, the girls finally reahed the enterance to the roof. To only find it the exact way they left it. TenTen's lemonade was still clattered on the ground, from her laziness, and there was still Ino's yellow umbrella.

"Ah! Our haven is untouched!" TenTen smiled and immediately threw her stuff on her chair.

Sakura sat down on her chair. "I wonder where Hinata is?"

Ino shrugged. "Who knows, maybe enjoying the day.

"Enjoying the day, it's got ot be over 100 degrees!" Sakura scoffed, and shifted into a comfortable position.

TenTen looked something in her bag. "Actually it's around 99.9"

Ino gave an exagerated sigh and looked at the clouds. Of course, it didn't go unnoticed by the two girls, who then burst into laughter.

"What?" Ino gave a questioning look.

TenTen stifled a giggle. "You're acting so..." She struggled for the right words.

"Shikamaru-ish." Sakura finished.

Ino gave an incredulous look. "Hey, I am not!"

The other two just laughed as their conversation buzzed over the hundreds of people walking the streets below them. Meanwhile, in an apartment building almost directly facing the girls, some interactive spying was going on.

The blond picked his ear. "What do you think their laughing at?"

"Like we would know." Sasuke scoffed.

After some intense spying, and re-reading the note that Ino had passed to TenTen, the boys had begun to suspect some interesting activities going on with their femal colleagues. Though unable to attain any other information from Ino's extremely messy handwriting.

_TenTen,_

_Lol, did u know about Forehead's mystery man? _

_I sure as hell don't._

_U need 2 tell me all u know!_

_Come with me 2 get some stuff before we _

_go to the roof so we can talk. _

_I hear he's hot._

_But that's all Forehead told me. _

_How is your little crush going?_

_Mine with _(At this point the handwriting is too messy to read)

_Is going well. I heard Hinata has made progress 2._

_-Ino_

"This doesn't tell us much." Neji sighed.

Naruto prodded at crumpled note. "Who's 'Forehead'?"

Sasuke flicked Naruto in the head. "You moron, you claim to like Sakura and yet you don't know Ino calls her Forehead?"

Naruto's jaw dropped. "Seriously?!"

If Sasuke wasn't Sasuke, he would've slammed a hand over his head.

"Um... Neji nii-san?" A shy voice came as their was a knock on the door.

Neji froze. "Damn, hide the note quick!" He hissed, and threw the note at Sasuke, who looked at him wierdly before side-stepping the object and staring at it on the ground.

Sasuke looked at Neji expectantly. "Was I supposed to catch that?" That was more of a statement than a question.

Naruto quickly stuffed the note into his pocket as Neji opened the door.

Neji looked at the newcomer. "Hinata-sama."

She wasn't as fluttery as usual. "Oh Neji-niisan!" She looked around the room and blushed at Naruto (Who was picking his nose) "You have guests..."

Neji nodded solemnly.

"Is this a bad time?" She asked quietly. "I have important news." She added.

"What is it?" He asked.

"It's Hiashi-sama... he wants you." She muttered.

Neji spared a glance to the two other guys. "I'm leaving." With that, he closed the door, leaving Sasuke and Naruto puzzled in Neji's apartment.

Now out of earshot of his other two accomplices, Neji had questions. He wasn't very sure that Hinata even knew the answers to half of them, but he did excpect her to be of some help, seeing as though she was their friends. Even for her quiet personality, that was dissapaiting rather quickly, she might know just what was going on.

"Hinata-sama..." he drawled, earning her attention.

"Yes?" She looked at him expectantly.

He gave her a look. "What's with you, TenTen, Ino, and Sakura?"

Hinata tried her hardest not to reveal anything. "What about us?"

"Why are you acting so... different?" Neji interogated, activating his Byakugan.

Hinata found this moment a great time to turn tail and run away. Closing the door to the elevator, she left Neji pounding on the steel doors of his apartment complex's elevator door cursing loudly. It may not have been the wisest descision, but with little time to react, Hinata could only run and hope that she would be able to annoy a persistent cousin's interogating.

Hopefully...

* * *

_Done! TBC..._


	4. L

_Chuunin Exams, you gotta love'em_

* * *

Almost every day, the trio of Team Seven are thrilled (Not really) to go for afternoon training with their sensei, Kakashi. Same time every day, one o'clock PM as per usual with all Gennin teams in Konoha. There is but one problem. The Gennin curfew starts at seven, giving a full of six hours of training, which is usually never enought to fullfil Sasuke's burning desire for training. 

And worst of all, Kakashi-sensei is always late.

Sometimes later than other days. At one point, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were waiting at Team Seven's bridge for a total of six hours, tapping their feet impatiently and yelling for Kakashi to show up. Which he finally did... at exactly the curfew. So more times than not, Team Seven barely gets any training done at all.

Which wouldn't be much of a problem.

Seeing as though Naruto has bizzarely strange healing powers, a broken arm for Naruto can be as good as new in a matter of hours. And Sasuke, who has a high tolerance for pain, and a kunai stabbed in the chest is simply considered a mere flesh wound. And both of them train alot more often than usual.

And that only leaves Sakura.

At first, Sakura never trained after their few hours with Kakashi. She woke up late, and got to the red bridge on time, full of health and pampered for Sasuke. While Sasuke and Naruto always show up late (Not as late as Kakashi) with bruises and cuts from their training earlier that morning. And it helped the two boys alot. Sakura was almost left in the dust if she hadn't caught on that she should train more often.

And Sakura had one advantage to her two teamates.

She has, instead of just practicing by herself as per usual, condemed to small chikens and corn stalks as targets like Naruto and Sasuke, her friends, seeing as though she has some, have eagerly accepted her challenge. The four of them pair up at the top of the building, and train together, actually able to have real targets instead of old dolls and trash cans. Her new found strategy was helping alot.

It was also helping that Sakura had been secretly training herself to be a medic-nin. Ever since she had discovered how well she worked with her Chakra, she had decided that maybe it would be better to try the way of a Medic-nin. It might even help her team, seeing as though both Naruto and Sasuke always seem to wind up in the hospital anyways. So after finding a few medical books in the library, Sakura had began her early morning medical training, and her late afternoon sparring.

She was quite impressed with her training schedule.

It was no surprise at all that when Sakura promised herself a few minutes of sleep after harsh medical training, that instead of a good fifteen minutes, it ended up being a good 2 hours. Making her an hour and fifteen minutes late for practice. Sasuke was probably already at the bridge, and Naruto lagging his way through the streets to reach the bridge. Meaning she was the going to be the last one there.

The thought was enough for Sakura to scramble out of her bed, still in shorts and a tank, and begin to look for her kunoichi dress. Which was nowhere to be found. She remembered that her last one was lost in her laundry cycle, while the other was brutally tattered by her cat. So there was nothing she could wear. As if on cue, her closet chose the time to burst open and reveal all the other clothes besides her kunoichi dress. Sighing, she flipped a shirt over her and rushed out the door.

It would have been usual for the sun to be shining directly into Sakura's eye, as the sun was usually facing her at one o'clock. however, it was closer to three and the sun was falling ever so quickly, another annoying reminder that Sakura was late. Now Sakura was usually never bothered by time, always at everything on time, but with her new training schedule, it was hard to stay on time for anything.

She ran as fast as she could, passing people and dodging cars and stray objects that were headed her way. She nearly tripped over a skateboard if it wasn't for her ninja reflexes to jump over it in time. She had no idea how fast she was actually going, pumping chakra into her feet as she jumped over fences and a few trees to get over to the other side of town.

"Sakura-chan!"

The said girl looked up tiredly, the sleep deprived kunoichi in no mood for Naruto at the moment. Usually, she had a slight tolerance for the blonde, but the only thing felt now was hatred.

"What?" She snapped.

Naruto gave a confused look. "Where have you been?"

That's right, she was late. Giving a look around, she realized that fortunately, she wasn't as late as Kakashi. Granted, Sasuke was there, arms folded, giving an indignefied snort at her disposition. It had been true, because she didn't have enough time to stick her nose into all of her house's laundry baskets to find her dress, and her old one was mysteriously lying on her bedroom floor in shreds. So she had opted for her sleeping shorts, and a pink tee-shirt, that was a little more revealing than what she would have liked with its non-existent sleeves and it was too big and almost slacked over her shorts.

"I got..." She tried to think of an excuse. "Lost on the road of life." She had lied, with Kakashi's never failing tactic of avoiding-the-subject-of-lateness.

"Really?" A cool voice asked from above them. "Why didn't I see you there?"

Sakura instantly froze. She would have to thank Kakashi later for blowing her cover when she was almost in the clear. Two conspicous glances were aimed towards her. One glare from Sasuke, who seemed utterly unimpressed with her. And one from Naruto, which wasn't as angry looking because he was picking his nose at the same time.

"I don't know." She snorted, crossing her arms

"Sure you do." Kakashi glanced at her coyly. "Now Sakura-chan, did you over sleep today?"

"No." She deadpanned. She wouldn't let Kakashi drag it out of her this time.

The upside-down man looked thoughtful. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I woke up to do something, and I had to stay later than I thought I would." That sounded like a lie to her. However, Ino had cleary stated that if you simply keep a smile on, a guy wouldn't know the difference. However, the guys she used teh tactic on were hormone crazed teens, not a fully grown ANBU man.

"Ah." Kakashi nodded understandingly, smartly dropping the subject. "Well, we're going to do a few missions today."

Naruto immediately jumped, thoughts of finally beating Sasuke running through his head the way water runs through the gutters when it rains. Sasuke gave a snort that sounded a little like, "Pathetic" probably all too aware that this days missions would be as boring as the ones this entire month. If Sakura hadn't been any wiser, than she would've been jumping up and down like Naruto.

Though she had heard other news.

Apparently, Ino had heard from her mother who heard from her dentist who heard from her counselor, who heard from the Hokage's secretary that the Chuunin Exams were beginning. She had to doubt that even Kakashi-sensei knew that, and she couldn't help but swell with pride at the knowledge. It didn't take her long to realize that her face was revealing a little too much emotion, and immediately cooled down. She had been training for this for a good week with her friends.

She just had to hope that it would pay off.

"Sakura-chan! We're leaving!"

Sakura's head shot up to see Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi heading off the bridge. She immediately ran to catch up with them

As uneventful as it sounded, it was true. Naruto had once again made a complete fool out of himself, trying to out do Sasuke in whatever small chores they were asked to do. Even at one point, as the trio were collecting trash in a river, Naruto slipped and was about to get swept away with the current if it weren't for Sasuke's quick actions. And even at one point, Naruto's dog he was pet sitting had flung him into a trap zone, and he nearly exploded into pieces, and suffered from mild burns.

But Naruto is Naruto, and he brushed his wounds off as mere flesh wounds.

It wasn't at all surprising that each time Naruto failed, he just as quickly sprang back up and asked for anohter job, and although it was tiring to hear over and over, it was aspiring to see such determination. Of course with Naruto, such determination is nothing but a mere side affect of his bluntness. He never seemed to know when to give up, and whether that was a good thing or not was a hard descision.

Still, it took much longer than expected to do the chores that were required.

All the while, with Naruto sudden aprehensiveness to run off and get into all sorts of trouble, Sakura was stuck next to Sasuke. Usually, that was a good thing, seeing as though her trademark crush was only inches away from her. However, the two were yet to patch things up, seeing as though Sakura was inexplicibly ignoring Sasuke, and in return, Sasuke was confused as to how to get Sakura to open up. Because in his mind, he had believed that something terrible and as bad as rape or abuse had occured.

It had never striked the young Uchiha that maybe Sakura was dared by Ino to ignore him.

Then again, that thought would only occur to paranoid freaks. Still, as the young Uchiha slowly averted his eyes to his only female teammate, thoughts were running through his head. Was it something he did? Because apparently, he was the only one being ignored. A few days ago, he had seen her chat quite chummily with Neji, and what looked to be her talking to Lee, and even Shikamaru and Chouji.

Why was _he _being ignored?

Contrary to belief, the young Uchiha wasn't neccesarily heartless. He did have a heart, to him, it was the annoying thing in his chest that beat every other second that needed to be protected. The one described in young-hearted love romances... well, he didn't have that one. And if he did have that kind of heart, than it was probably locked away somewhere. Somewhere being with his memories of his family.

His grip on his dog's leash loosened, and the dog began to pull. He quickly tugged on his edge of the rope, the dog making a slight yelp at the sudden jerk of the leash.

"Okay, we're done here."

Sakura, Sasuke, and a badly burned Naruto looked up at a lounging Kakashi. His nose was in his infamous Icha Icha book, the one that had just came out only days ago, so naturally it would take all of Konoha and then some to ever get him to stop being a slothful sofa-spud and actually train his students. Until he was finished with the book of course, but by then, he would have probably gotten the other one.

"I think that's all the chores- I mean missions we have to do today so I'm going to go and right the report."

Before the three could protest, their sensei had dissapeared in smoke, leaving his bewildered students to go and bring the dogs back to their owners. Sakura gave a sigh, and walked behind her two companions, who were now engaged in bickering, which only really consisted of Naruto calling Sasuke names, and Sasuke uneagerly responding with consecutive 'hns'.

Sakura gave her companions vague looks as they returned the dogs and headed home. If what Ino had said was true, could they be able to pass these so called exams? She was fairly sure that Chuunin Exams would be hard, and that people from all over the country, and maybe even people from other countries would be coming to participate. The thought itself was scary. She had to doubt that Konoha officials would care much at all if a participant died.

Was Team 7, and for that matter, any of the Rookie 9 strong enough to get involved in these exams?

And another million dollar question, was that mystery man going to be participating? If so, how would she know that it was him? She couldn't neccesarily go up to every Gennin competing and ask for a voice test, that was completely out of the question. Maybe she could stop by that tree today and see if he was there. Maybe... depending if she can worm her way away from her two teammates.

Hoping they wouldn't notice anything, she quickly sidestepped away from them. Usually, she would be asking Sasuke for a date at the moment. And truthfully, she really wanted to, but however, Ino's personal training begged to differ, along with Inner Sakura. Sakura new she shouldn't be holding her life for the Uchiha boy this much, because he probably would never love her in return, but for some reason, she did it anyways.

She leaned against the wooden fences of Konoha as she heard Naruto and Sasuke once again fighting. Followed by the almost unaudible patter of Sasuke's sandals as he walked away blocked by Naruto's insane yelling. Afterwards, Sakura found herself slightly worried as three multi-colored gunpowder shots suddenly errupted from the otherside of the fence.

Sakura immediately whirled around to go towards the explosion.

That was followed by three young pre-ninja kids.

_Very _irratating nusiance-like brats was more like it in Sakura's opnion.

She hated them, and it probably wasn't at all their fault. They just always ended up coming at the times when she was pissed. Like now for instance, when she really wanted to go with Sasuke, when she knew she couldn't. Which only meant one thing, these brats needed to be pounded on. And Naruto was only making things worse by pretending that she was his girlfriend to Konohamaru.

Which landed him face first into the wooden fene by Sakura's fist.

Konohamaru was gaping, and his little friends were scared stiff. But then recovered and beagn to yell, "Ugly! Ugly girl!"

Sakura decided that some more pulp-beating was in order.

So, a few minutes later, a beaten Naruto, and Konohamaru were both out cold on the floor. Sakura was just walking away, quite happy with her handywork, and she didn't even need any help from Kunai and Shuriken. Of course, if it was needed, a few murderous weapons could be issued...

"I-is she even a girl!?!"

Oh yes, Sakura heard that, loud and clear.

And she was effectively pissed. She slowly turned around, just as Konohamaru and Naruto were making a run for it.

She immediately began to chase them, pissed over all belief, and was looking forward to graciously making Naruto and his little pal into mince meat that could be mistaken for pork chops. With murderous intent, she began to chase them, unaware that Konohamaru was pulling away from Naruto, and succesfully braking into the clear of another street. Almost away from Sakura. Where he then bumped (more like ran) into another person.

Poor little Konohamaru had just picked the wrong day to bother Naruto.

Enter Kankuro, in bully mode.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto's yell fell on death ears.

Kankuro growled. "That hurt brat." He ground out.

His partner in crime, was not in the mood however. "Stop it, we're going to get scolded later." Well, at least she didn't seem like a bully.

Sakura felt slightly guilty (slightly) "I'm sorry! I was joking around so..." Her voice trailed off. She hadn't used it much in the past few days.

She couldn't help but wonder but if these people were here for the Chuunin exams. She wasn't suppose to know about them, but judging from their headbands, they were from another country.

"Hey!" Naruto broke into her thoughts. "Let go of him!"

Kankuro gave a smug smirk, he didn't seem impressed, and just tightened his grip.

Konohamaru tried failed attempts to kick him, but it didn't help much.

Sakura new it was a losing battle. Naruto might help, but it couldn't actually do that much damage to the uknown antagonizer, unless he unleashed the Kyuubi, which was something that Naruto hadn't mastered yet. And Sakura didn't want to show her new abilities just yet. She was smart enough to know that showing off her abilities this early ot other participants might be used against her.

But... if she didn't who would help Konohamaru? As much as she hated the stupid brat, it wouldn't be good if the third's grandson was bullied and she didn't do anything to help. Wouldn't that be going against Konoha?

She was about to step in when something beat her to it.

A rock.

It hit Kankuro's arm and succesfully made him drop Konohamaru, who was scrambling away already. Kankuro nursed his arm, growling rather loudly. He looked over to the direction where the rock came from, only to be met with the infamous Uchiha glare. Sasuke's famous Uchiha glare that is.

Sakura nearly jumped up and down at Sasuke's coolness. But she didn't trying very hard to remind herself to be absolutely emotionless about the topic. Still, she had to innerly admit, he was looking pretty hot sitting on a tree branch, flipping a rock in his hand.

"Get lost." There it was, his usual monotone voice.

Something seemed amiss in his heroic act however, and Sakura felt like she was overlooking something of importance. Something... or someone? As Kankuro was unleashing what was probably his ultimate weapon of sorts, with Temari urging him not to, there was another presence.

"Kankuro, stop. You're a disgrace to our village."

Sasuke evidently snapped up, and was clearly unaware of the presence until it spoke. Sakura and the rest too, hadn't noticed the third party, who was actually hanging upside down from a tree branch. In the same tree that Sasuke was in. That was pretty amazing, that prodigy Sasuke hadn't realized that he was there for what could have been the entire time.

Even Kankuro seemed frightened. "G-Gaara." He sputtered.

"Why do you think that we came all the way to Konoha?"

In their heads, Naruto and Sasuke were wondering the same thing. Of course, Sakura had an upper advantage, thanks to Ino's ability to spread gossip like a pyromaniac. Sakura was thinking that they were here for the Chuunin Exams. Which they probably were, but they definetely couldn't be the only tough opponents.

"Listen Gaara," Kankuro pleaded. "These guys started it."

"Shut up."

In the back of her head, Sakura couldn't help but think that his voice was familiar, but she couldn't pinpoint it. He reminded her of Sasuke. Kankuro froze up, his bully atmosphere dissapaiting as he stood in fear to the redhead. He seemed familiar. But the only thoughts crossing her mind directly were out of fear of the boy.

Gaara's eye narrowed. "I'll kill you."

And with three words he immediately scared the other participants in the fight.

"I'm really sorry." Kankuro apologized, putting his hands infront of him.

Gaara looked towards the Konoha Gennin. "Excuse them, you guys."

Maybe he had some manners after all. They were just a little... warped. It was almost immediate that a rivalry between Gaara and Sasuke was issued. Both of the two were seemingly strong, and they both seemed rather arrogant. That's about five rivalries for Sasuke. Gaara narrowed his eyes at Sasuke, before dispersing himself in sand, and reappearing with his teammates.

He turned towards his teammates. "Let's go, we didn't come here to fool around."

They turned around, and started walking, but Sasuke wasn't about to let his newfound rival get away so quickly. He hopped down from his spot on the tree.

"What's your name?"

The boy in question turned around. "Sabuku no Gaara." He had the same monotone as Sasuke. "What's your name?"

Sasuke smirked. "Uchiha Sasuke."

And it now begins, the Sasuke-Gaara rivalry, the fifth rivalry, that also includes, Lee, Neji, Naruto, and Shikamaru. Sasuke seems to have more enemies than friends.

* * *

It was absolute injustice that at the time the heat wave was in full stride, Konoha seemed to be more populated than it had for the entire year. Truthfully, Sakura never saw why Konoha always seemed to be a great vacation spot. All it was was a country in the middle of a forest. A very humid, sticky, and hot forest that is. And at the moment, she was feeling the heat. 

Ever since the up-headed news about the Chuunin Exams she had heard, her and the other females of Rookie Nine have been practicing extra hard. It wasn't as if today would be any different. So under the hot burning sun, Sakura, Ino, TenTen, and Hinata once again went to the roof to practice and train.

"Aww... I don't believe this! It's so hot!" Ino complained, a hand on her hip as they finally reached the top.

TenTen reached into her bag of weapons. "Okay, who's going to spar with who?" She questioned, scanning her other friends for a suitable opponent.

Sakura raised her hand. "I'm not going to participate." She didn't even bother to look up from her book.

"Why not?" Ino raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow.

Sakura simply pointed at her book. "I'm training with medical jutsus."

"Why? It's so much better to be trained in fighting, like Ninjutsus and Taijutsus." TenTen reasoned.

Sakura shook her head. "With my team, I'm better off being a medic-nin."

She had a point, with Naruto's block headedness, he always gets hurt in battle, and with Sasuke, he always gets hurt, one way or another. Both are pretty good at sustaining themselves with pain, but the two can only take so many hits before they fall over. So Sakura decided that she could help her team by using medical jutsus. But so far, she only knew four or five.

"W-well, I guess I s-should try to train in Taijutsus, I'm not very good." Hinata pressed her index fingers together in nervousness.

TenTen smiled. "Okay! I'll train with Hinata! Lee's always teaching me new Taijutsus anyways!"

Ino frowned. "What about me?!"

"I guess you could tan." Sakura shrugged.

Ino found that an acceptable answer and laid down on her tanning chair with a content sigh.

As TenTen and Hinata were practing assorted Taijutsus, and Ino was busily lathering herself in tanning oil, Sakura flipped threw a Medical book. She had lugged maybe twenty or so of different medical books from the library. One of which contained a full graph of the human anatomy, which Sakura found herself revolted at the male picture. She could only hope that she wouldn't have to take Naruto's clothes off to heal him. Sasuke however, well, that could be a nice expierience.

She tossed the book back into her bag and pulled another out.

"Ow!"

Ino took of her sunglasses to stare at the two sparring and Sakura looked up from her book. Hinata was clutchin her arm, which was apparently bleeding, and a big gash was seen near her wrist. From what most of the medical books that Sakura had read, she judged that the wound wasn't close enough to the veins to be of any critical danger, but it was a good oppurtuntiy to try her healing abilities.

"Hey Hinata!"

The said girl looked over to Sakura.

"Do you think I could try to heal that?" She asked, approaching her transclucent eyed friend.

Hinata looked nervous. "S-sure."

Sakura scribbled a few jutsus on the back of her hand, and began to heal Hinata's wound. The white-eyed Gennin seemed amazed at Sakura, who was working on her now almost healed wrist. Hinata's shock was followed by Ino's and TenTen's who had no idea that Sakura was that good at medical jutsus.

Ino seemed suprised. "Wow forehead! That was pretty good!"

"That's so cool! I need to know how to do that!" TenTen gaped.

Hinata seemed relieved. "Thank you, Sakura-chan!"

"Oh, it's not anything too hard." Sakura laughed. "I need to concentrate on healing bones and deeper flesh wounds."

Sakura couldn't wait until she showed Naruto and Sasuke how much better she was getting. "If I want to get better, I definetely need a mentor." She walked back to her seat, and buried her nose into another rather large medic book.

TenTen remembered something. "Oh! I have news!"

Ino sprung foreward like a jack-in-the-box. "What?"

"Just yesterday, I was about to go home, when Neji said I dropped something, so I turned around, and he gave me that letter you gave me!" TenTen sighed dreamily.

Ino gave an igdignified snort. "That's it?"

TenTen shook her head. "And then he handed it to me, and he's like, "You dropped this yesterday." And then he asked me what it meant!"

"What?!" Ino was shocked. "I hope you didn't tell him!"

"Nah, I said it was girl stuff." TenTen retorted.

"Oh..." Hinata seemed relieved. "T-that was why he was asking."

Ino looked at her. "He was asking?"

"Yeah." Hinata nodded.

"No wonder when I bumped into him at the grocery store he looked madder than usual." Sakura muttered, more to herself but the other's heard her.

"Oh man, I hope he's no too mad about that..." Hinata averted her eyes.

TenTen lept forward. "Mad about what?"

Hinata took a step back. "Uh... I n-needed to get him, and he was at his apartment with Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru when-

"With Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru?!?!" Ino yelped.

"All of them?" TenTen gasped.

Sakura flipped a page in her book. "And I thought he was anti-social."

"He is!" TenTen pointed out. "They're definetely plotting something!"

"Plotting?" Ino echoed, adjusting her sunglasses.

"Yes, plotting!" TenTen put a hand to her chin. "If you noticed, Neji's apartment complex is right over on the opposite facing building!"

Sakura looked over at the other buildings. "You have a point, I can see his apartment from here." Tehn she remembered something. "How would you know that TenTen?"

TenTen blushed harshly. "Oh... Y'know, sometimes he leaves the curtains open... yeah..."

"It's a perfect spying place!" Ino shrieked, sitting upwards to stare at the said building.

"So they were spying on us..." Sakura muttered.

"T-then they must have read whatever was on the note." Hinata realized.

The girls had gone into an uneasy silence. Wrapping their heads around the idea, it wasn't long before Shikamaru's ingenius brain was able to decipher what was on the note. It might not be a problem for Sakura, seeing as though Sasuke was fully aware of her big crush, but for Ino and TenTen, it could be a disaster. Hinata, well, Naruto would be too stupid to realize that Hinata like him even if someone yelled it in his face.

Still, putting the pieces of the puzzle together, it could only lead to one conclusion; the boys were catching on. If Sakura didn't want her team to know about her profound knowledge in the medic field, than she would need to be more careful when she was practicing. With a glance at Neji's window, she noticed the blind were closed, and it gave the outlook that no one was there.

But another thought hit her mind. Since when did Sasuke even have a genuine interest in her?

From what Hinata said, Shikamaru, Neji, Naruto _and _Sasuke were in Neji's apartment.

"Huh." She muttered to herself, and looked back at her medic book.

* * *

It was already the next morning, and Sakura was groggily forcing herself to roll out of bed. With an effective thump, she realized that she had succesfully rollen herself out of her bed and onto the hardwood floor of her apartment. She gave a sideways glance at the heap of laundry that was rotting on the side of her floor. 

She had been to caught up in her training to wash it, and it was beginning to stink.

Medical books were piled up on her nightstand, and she had to feel around the surface, knocking books off to look at her clock. That may not have been the smartest idea.

"WHAT!?!"

A ferrel cry shook most of the building, awaking her neighbors, which did include TenTen and Ino. With a continous knock on her bedroom wall, which was parralell to Ino's room, Ino was effictevely ranting at Sakura for making so much noise in the morning. Until Ino too looked at her clock, mortified beyond comparison.

The two ended up struggling out of bed at the same time, and staggering toward the door and exiting the apartment building at the same time. They then met a groggy TenTen, who was practically collapsed outside of the apartment complex. After they all finally woke up, they immediately split up to go to their training grounds for the morning training routine.

So, that's how Sakura found her way to the bridge. A massive uncombed heap of pink hair atop her head, which she ended up cleaning up by the time she reached her teammates. And a crinkled red kunoichi dress that had been laying on her bedroom for a good few days adorned her worn out body. She was pretty sure she put her sandals on backwards too, but was too tired to notice.

Not exactly the best way to impress Sasuke.

But then again, since when did Sasuke ever look at her anyways? The only one who did was Naruto, and impressing wasn't at the top of her list, it in fact was somewhere near the bottom. And even though it was clearly stated that a shinobi should never show emotion (unless your name is Uzumaki), Sakura still managed to be a groggy mess in the morning, with no conception to the rules at all.

And even aside from the messy mornings, Sakura had been doing a wonderful job at concealing her emotions. For someone who didn't have as much skill in the art of concealing feelings, like Sasuke, she was doing actually fairly well. That was until recently this morning. She arrived with spirit balls looming over her head ominously, a good sign of emotion. And she'd been doing so well too.

She blamed the weather.

"Oi Sakura-chan!"

Naruto's voice was found to be more irratating than usual.

She didn't attempt to make any kind of response, more simply leaning agaisnt the railing and letting the wind play with now half-combed hair. Sasuke was here too, looking in the other direction. Sakura didn't even attempt to make conversation with him, which was percisely why she chose the farther side of the bridge, so that she wouldn't have to deal with thinking about him.

But she thought about him anyways.

Even if Naruto's irratating voice was in her ear, she still was thinking about the young and unreachable Sasuke. He always seemed to be so cool, even when wounded and looking death in the eye. And especially when he was protecting her, and she couldn't get his face out of her mind. And what really made her heart clench, was the thought that he didn't even care.

Because he didn't.

"So, what did you guys think about those Suna guys?" Naruto wondered to his two teammates.

Sasuke scowled. "That redhead was strong."

"I wonder why they're here." Naruto's eyes squinted as he thought. "What about you Sakura-chan?" He was trying to get her to talk, since she hadn't for a good few days to him.

And it worked. Sakura gave the two a boring look. "I know why they're here."

Naruto and Sasuke now had given her their full attention. "You do?" Naruto gaped. And even though Sasuke wasn't willing to say it, he was interested too.

"Yes. I do." Sakura retorted, before averting her eyes to the scenary, even though her heart was speeding up at Sasuke's newfound attention with her. Even if it was just becasue she mentioned knowledge about his new rival.

"Then why?" Surprisingly, Sasuke asked.

Sakura was more than willing to answer. "The Chuunin Exams are being held in Konoha."

Naruto's eyes visibly widened. "What's a Chuunin Exam?"

"You moron, a Chuunin Exam is the exam you take to pass from being a Gennin to a Chuunin." Sasuke explained, arms folded and he was looking into the distance.

"A Chuunin Exam!" Naruto smiled. "I'm so going to take it!"

And so begins the beginning of the Chuunin Exams.

* * *

_It's different from the way the anime and manga are, but this is fanfiction right? TBC reviews please!_


	5. E

_New Chappie up. _

* * *

"Oh hell." Ino cursed. 

It wasn't everyday that Ino cursed, but today had to be an exception. It was supposed to be a usual week, like the ones that were meant for the dog days of summer. Where the girls were suppose to lather themselves in sun tan lotion and soak in the sun. Like usual, the sun was shining and everything was sticky and humid in Konoha.

But there was something different today.

Aside from the fact that the Jounin sensei's were extremely fidgety, sans Kakashi, who was reading his perverted books. Sakura had to wonder if the fact the Chuunin Exams were coming up was a factor of the unease. She also had to wonder when Kakashi planned to drop the bomb on them. Not that it wasn't like they already knew anyhow.

Trust Kakashi to tell them at the most incomprehendable of times.

Actually, he ended up telling them, more like mumbling that they were all going to the Chuunin Exams right when Naruto was about to throw up from all the ramen he ate, and he fell over onto Sasuke, who was pleading for Naruto to get up. And Sakura was left to stare horridly at her two teammates and look away and pretend she didn't know them. Apparently for Kakashi that was the best time to tell them.

But as for now, after training, and school was over, the girls found themselves in a worse predicament than they had ever before. Much worse than being ambushed by fellow shinobi.

TenTen cursed too. "I totally agree with you." She added.

"What are they doing?" Sakura questioned, her head ducked under Ino's window sill.

"I... I'm so s-scared." Hinata looked like she was about to faint.

Ino pounded her fists into her table. "What is wrong with them?!?"

Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose. "Sasuke-kun never told me he was _gay_!"

"So, you think Shikamaru told me that?" Ino spat.

TenTen looked mortified. "I never thought Neji was gay either!"

"I guess it would be considered personal." Hinata reasoned.

All four of them quieted down, pressing their faces against the window sill in a futile attempt to get a better look. On the other side of the bussling street, were the faces of the girls' teammates. The male ones, sans Rock Lee, Shino, and Chouji. Which left Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Neji.

Now, the assumption that there fellow teammates were gay wasn't necessarily true. Just because from the looks of it, they were having the male equivalent of a Girl's Sleepover, doesn't mean they had to have any sexual relations with eachother. Right?

Unknown to the girls, the boys were doing much more than sleeping over. They were plotting their attack on their female teammates. According to the rather sloppy note that Ino gave to TenTen, the girl were also plotting an attack on the boys. What the attack was they were unsure of, but that was why Shikamaru was there.

"From what we know from the note, all four of them are plotting against, me and this 'mystery man'." Shikamaru concluded.

He shoved a hand into his pocket to look for something. "And from this note," He held up yet another folded paper. "We can tell that the people who will be attacked are now Me, this mystery man, Neji, Naruto, and Sasuke."

Naruto clasped a hand behind his back. "Why would they do that?"

"Because their girls." Sasuke concluded.

Neji nodded. "Girls are wierd."

Was that the best conclusion that the prodigies could give? More knowledge needed!

"That's the thing though." Shikamaru frowned. "We don't know how a girl thinks."

Neji raised a brow. "What are you getting at Shikamaru?"

"I don't think I want to hear this." Sasuke muttered.

"We need to know how a girl thinks!" Shikamaru explained.

"How?" Naruto's stupidity was vast, as exampled by his question.

"You dobe." Sasuke growled. "One of us needs to pretend to be a girl!"

"No way in hell is that going to be me!" Neji quickly told them, before they opted for him to be the girl.

Shikamaru sighed. "I'd make Naruto do it because of his jutsu, but he doesn't have the mannerisms."

"So who will?" Sasuke asked carefully.

All heads turned to him. Sasuke nearly choked. "Me?!"

"Look, I'd do it, but Ino would notice right away. With you, I'm sure that Sakura wouldn't notice." Shikamaru told the stunned boy.

"Why the hell would I know how to be a girl?" Sasuke growled.

The question was left unanswered as Sasuke was quickly lodged out of Neji's apartment to find 'suitable clothes' as his colleagues in crime devised more plans.

* * *

The girls had finally decided that they had enough of staring at their curshes, longing that they wouldn't be gay, but it was all in futile attempt. Ino was practically sobbing at the news, complaining why Shikamaru had to be so hot that she fell for him. TenTen looked downcast, and Hinata was about to faint. Sakura kept cursing repeatedly. 

The three decided to change into their rather skimpy swimsuits and just sit tan, and try not to think about their crushes being gay. Luckily for Sakura, the mystery man's label of straight hadn't diminished. But as far as she knew, the man could turn out to be a women, she didn't know anything about this person's appearance.

By the time the other three girls had trudged up the flights of stairs, Sakura was still getting her stuff ready. She ended up telling them to meet her at the roof, and that she'll be their very soon. That was a lie, because Sakura took joy in taking drastically long times to get ready, flaunting her hair until it was fluffy, soft, and beautiful.

Sadly, Sakura could never make herself this beautiful when going for training, so her now labeled 'gay' crush had never seen her at full beauty.

Huffing to herself, Sakura slammed her apartment door behind her to begin her long journey up the stairs.

Only to be stopped by another pretty maiden.

"Oh, hello." Sakura greeted the other, now startled girl.

The raven haired girl quickly regained herself. "Hello." She made a forced smile.

"Are you knew here? I haven't seen you before." Sakura took a few steps closer, and the girl blushed.

Little did Sakura know, but the reason the 'girl' was blushing was the fact that Sakura's top bathing suit was a little too revealing. Not that Sakura had ever worn it out of the apartment complex. But this girl, who was actually Sasuke, was holding back a nose bleed.

"Um... yeah." The girl finally managed to answer.

Sakura gasped. "Really? Than you should hang out with me and my friends!" Sakura invited.

No matter how much Sasuke wanted to dicline, Shikamaru, Neji, and Naruto were all wanting answers, and this was the only way to get them.

"O-okay." Sasuke agreed, and Sakura took his hand, (making him blush at the contact) and dragging him up the many flights of stairs.

The dress Sasuke sadly had to wear, was actually Shikamaru's twice removed cousin's dress that she left at his house because she forgot it. Now it was Sasuke's hand me down that he wished he would never have to wear again in his entire life.

"Hey guys!" Sakura called as they reached the top of the stairs.

All heads turned towards Sakura and the new arrival. Sasuke was shocked at what they were all wearing. Even Hinata, who was always conservative was in a two-piece very revealing bathing suit, not a single blush on her cheeks. TenTen, was wearing something similar, and Ino had a bathing suit that left nothing to the imagination.

"Hey! Sit down! We're all tanning!" Ino smiled, and threw a tanning bottle at Sasuke, who caught it with his shinobi reflexes.

Sakura saw him. "Oh, you have pretty good reflexes! Are you a ninja?"

"Um... no..." Sasuke didn't know what else to say.

"You'd make a really good ninja." TenTen commented, taking an easy sip of what looked to be Pepsi.

Sakura ran ahead of him and sat down at her chair, an beckoned the diguised Sasuke to sit down on the chair next to her. He complied, hoping they wouldn't realize that his usual chiken-like hair was just gelled down and had a bow in it.

"Man, I was hoping that I stood a chance with Sasuke-kun." Sakura sighed.

Sasuke immediately picked up his name, but pretended not to be listening in.

Ino snorted. "Yeah, well me and Shikamaru was starting to sound good too!"

Shikamaru? Sasuke didn't know Ino liked Shikamaru!

"Hmph. Too bad their all freackin' gay!" TenTen growled.

Sasuke was completely mortified. They thought he was gay?!?

"I-it's not f-fair." Hinata stuttered.

"You don't need to stutter infront of us Hinata." Ino told the girl, whose facade suddenly dropped to reveal another side of her.

"You know what?! I was going to tell Naruto I liked him tomorrow too! You know how much _courage _that took?! And I even stopped stuttering for him! I would've told him today if it wasn't for my stupid father! Screw the clan! And screw Naruto for being gay too!" Hinata completely exploded, and even though the other girl's took no offense to it, Sasuke was astounded.

"That was beautiful Hinata." Ino commented.

"Mm-hm!" TenTen and Sakura concured, all three not even opening their eyes as if it was a normal expierience for Hinata to yell. It made Sasuke's brain work like clockwork, girl's were a different species indeed.

Hinata sat down. "Thank you."

"I can't believe that Neji even felt me up!" TenTen growled. "I wouldn't have taken offense if he liked me, but for heaven's sake he's _gay_! I don't have any other reason to believe that he's nothing but a pervert!"

Sakura turned around. "When did he do that?"

"A few days ago." TenTen muttered.

Sasuke wondered, did Neji really do that?

"What about you Sakura?" Ino asked.

Sakura snapped out fo her gaze. "What about me?"

"Well," Ino began. "Since Sasuke is gay, what about mystery man?"

Getting past the part that they thought he was gay, Sasuke was interested in this mystery man. Wait, why would they think he was gay?!?

Sakura sighed. "I dunno, I haven't seen him in a while, and there's this new guy."

"New guy?!?!" All three cried in unison, and even Sasuke was feeling a little jealous.

TenTen scoffed. "I wish I had this many men in my life." She slurped her drink. "That Y'know, didn't have a terrible fashion sense or were gay. Like, actually date-able."

"Yeah..." Ino sighed dreamily. "Shikamaru's too hot to be gay."

"So," Hinata drawled. "There's a new man in your life?"

Sakura nodded. "He had red hair, and was a total hottie. He was really strong too. Like, Sasuke-kun strong!"

"Ooh!" TenTen cooed.

"I saw him!" Hinata piped up. "He was with the blonde girl, Temari!"

"Temari-chan! Oh, then I saw him!" Ino chimed in.

"Him? That _him_?" TenTen seemed excited.

Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing. These girl's weren't planning anything! They were just talking about crushes! And what made him really angry, was that his new rival was the center of their attention. The damn bastard had just succesfully captured the hearts of the kunoichi's of Konoha. And the four girls all thought they were gay! How could Neji be gay if his apartment is practically chalk _full _of disgusting porn? They had it all wrong.

"But you know," Sakura sighed. "Sasuke-kun is pretty damn hot."

Sasuke would have swelled with manly pride if he wasn't pretending to be a girl.

"He's got nice arms." TenTen commented.

"And abs." Hinata sighed dreamily.

"And shoulders."

"And _ass_!" Ino crowed. "Don't tell me none of you have noticed that, cuz you would be soo lying."

"Yes, we _all_ noticed that." The other three muttered sarcastically.

"That's so lewd of you Ino, trust you to bring that up." Sakura frowned.

Ino shrugged. "Not my fault you're prude about sex."

"Now, now..." TenTen crooned, eyes closed.

"I am not _prude_!" Sakura shot back.

"Puh-lease, all I have to do is bring up Sasuke's ass-which by the way is hawt- and you're worse than Hinata!" Ino pointed out.

Sakura mumbled something inaudibly.

Ino gave a sly smile. "What was that?" She put a hand to her ear.

Sakura frowned. "I said I agree with you. He's got a nice ass."

Were... were they just having a conversation about him? Were they just arguieng about which part of his body was hotter? And did they just concur that he had a nice ass? Sasuke wasn't sure what was worse, the men's world or the girls. Both seemed equally scary. Sasuke was in a daze, trying to wonder if he should run now, or sit here and try to regain as much information as possible. It wasn't as if this was neccesary, but Neji was the gossip bee, so he could do this as a favor, and then make Neji pay him back with some ridiculous high price.

"What about you?"

All heads promptly turned to the new girl.

"I... he's okay." Sasuke mumbled, feeling rather uncomfortable talking about himself, much less his ass.

Ino splurted out her drink. "Just okay?! Have you even seen him? Look, Shikamaru's a gentleman but nothing compares to that man's ass!"

At this point, Sasuke found his world spinning erraticaly. He saw blurred pictures of what used to be a building, and now everything faded into spots. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he could hear worried voices coming from far, far away. Everything just kept spinning in darkness, and that was all he could see at the moment. Soon, everything that he heard was echoing in webs of darkness, and he didn't know where he was anymore.

Then he heard the voices again. It was only a few seconds that everything was completely quiet, and now he could hear again. He tried straining to hear whatever it was, but he couldn't concentrate enough. He blamed himself, he wasn't strong enough to fight off the extreme embarrassment and astoundment that overcame him. Maybe that's why girls cried so much, embarassment was hard to handle. He almost felt like he knew how girls though. Well, almost.

The small buzzing he heard grew louder, and it rang clearly in his ears. At first it sounded far off, but it soon came so close that he coul dhear it in his ear loud and clear. The buzzing turned to soft, definitely female, and sounded more like humming. He tried to open his eyes, only to realize that he couldn't move most of his body. He felt numb, this being a relatively new expierience for him. Of course he had fainted, countless times when he slumped over his bed after hard training.

But this was far more peaceful. Especially with the lulling sound in his ear, that was sounding familiarly like the way his mother used to hum.

"Oh! You're awake!"

Sasuke barely opened his eyes, blurs of pink already invading his vision. He tried to move, but it was futile since most of his body was numb.

"I'm sorry!" Sakura apologized. "I'm not sure how to deal with fainted patients so well yet."

Sasuke was confused, what was Sakura talking about? She was a shinobi, not a doctor. Apparently, the confusion was etched into his face, because Sakura caught on.

"Oh, I'm training to be a medic-nin!"

A medic-nin? When did this happen? Last time Sasuke checked, Sakura was going slightly emo, and had appeared with a few cuts and bruises on her the past few weeks. He hadn't yet to judge if his annalysis was correct, and hadn't came to even think that Sakura did anything productive in the early morning, much less train. He always thought she was just a girl, who's only care was clothing and her hair.

Sakura wasn't so kiddish anymore... she was so... grown up.

"Medic-nin?" Sasuke couldn't believe how high-pitched his voice sounded with Neji's jutsu.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah! I want to help out my team, and since the other two are ruff-housing boys, I thought I should be a medic-nin, so I can heal them on missions!"

She had a point, Sasuke hated hospitals, because they always looked so bland and boring. There was no point in putting Naruto in one, because he always ends up escaping one way or anther. Kakashi could care less, having a book around to occupy him when he was resting.

It was only then did Sauske realize where he was.

"Where am I?" He looked around the room.

Sakura gave a small gasp. "Oh yeah! I took you to my apartment! You fell onto a piece of glass, so I had to clean it up for you so it wouldn't get infected." Sakura explained.

But, did that meant she had to lift up, his, or Shikamaru's cousin's dress? She would know he wasn't a girl then! He looked around for any injuries, and sighed in relief when the only one was a small bandaid wrapped on his wrist.

"Thank you, Sakura-san, but I really should get going, I-

"I understand." Sakura promptly interupted, getting out of the way so Sasuke could get to the door from the couch.

When he exited her apartment, he could hear Sakura calling after him, "Be careful!"

How carfeul could he get? He was never, ever going to wear shorts again, seeing as though his shorts were now a perfect oppurtunity for the Rookie 9 girls to ogle his ass.

* * *

Sadly for Sasuke, he ended up completely clamming up as his other accomplices looked rather peeved at him. After all, their efforts had been wasted, the female secrets were safe for another day. Well, more like another three minutes until Naruto finally flunked and began to strangle Sasuke. Although they couldn't really blame Sasuke, because as far as genius Shikamaru knew, girls were plotting something so evil that the girls had scared Sasuke stiff. 

"Teme! What happened?!" Naruto barked.

Shikamaru put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Let the man have a few moments of peace, we don't know what could have happened."

Neji nodded, probably sharing the same thoughts as Shikamaru. There were a few tense moments of silence, as they all let Sasuke breathe, which he had been doing rather erraticaly since he stepped into Neji's apartment in his normal outfit istead of his 'disguise'. After another tense minute, Shikamaru started the interrogation.

"Okay, start from the beginning." Shikamaru told Sasuke, who was still in a time lapse.

"Sasuke-teme?!" Naruto absent-mindedly waved a hand infront of Sasuke.

"Terrible." He breathed.

"What?" They all asked in unison.

"It was terrible."

Naruto grew impatient. "What was terrible?!"

"The beginning Sasuke, the beginning." Shikamaru reminded.

The beginning. It was all like a very very bad nightmare at the moment, and Sasuke wasn't sure where the beginning was. He thought hard for a moment, mentally retracing his steps. Sasuke took a breath. "I went upstairs with Sakura, and she seemed okay."

The room was silent. "And?" Naruto patience grew thinner by the second.

"So we went to the roof, and it was normal. They were all tanning in bathing suits." Sasuke went on.

"Bathing suits?" Shikamaru echoed in disbelief.

"Very, Very skimpy bathing suits." Sasuke repeated.

Neji choked. "Even Hinata-sama?!"

Sasuke nimbly nodded. "And... and..." Just the way it sounded in his head was wrong, and he couldn't just spit it out.

"And what teme?! Stop stuttering!" Naruto growled, slamming a fist into a table.

"They think we're gay."

All three other males froze. Shikamaru, who was pacing, had his eyes widened, abruptly stopping his walking and freezing in an akward position. Naruto's face turned blue, and his mouth dropped all the way to the table and slammed with a bang. Neji's eyes made good impersonations of saucers, and he looked like he would faint. Maybe telling them was a bad idea...

"GAY?!?!?!"

Sasuke was fairly sure that that was a rhetorical question.

"W-Why?!"

"Maybe because we've slept in Neji's house while annalizing the situation." Shikamaru concluded.

"B-But girls do that all the time!" Naruto protested, hands in the air.

Neji nodded. "They do, but when guys do it, it becomes a total different situation."

"Wait... how would they even know we were all at Neji's house anyways?" Sasuke intelligibly wondered.

Shikamaru pointed towards the other building. "The apartment with lavender curtains is Ino's."

"They have a clear view." Neji realized.

"And," Sasuke drawled. "How would you know that?"

Shikamaru blushed. "I-I helped her pick them out."

"Right."

They weren't convinced.

There was an uneasy silence as the boys wrapped the ideas of the girls thoughts in their eads. With brains working like clockwork, even Naruto's, they all came to one conclusion. They had to stop the girls from thinking that. But the question was... how? They couldn't certainly have a make-out session with one of them. Although the thought was settling nicely in their heads, they couldn't do that. Leave Shikamaru to have a brilliant idea.

"We all need to start reading Icha Icha." He declared.

"Wh-What?" Came Naruto's exasperated voice.

"Icha Icha." Shikamaru repeated. "It's completely perverted, it'll set the record straight."

"Can't you come up with something better than that?" Sasuke retorted.

"And a little less perverted." Neji added.

Shikamaru gave a sigh. "Look, were either gay or perverted, and at this point, perverts are sounding a little better."

Naruto made a grumbling sound, and Sasuke and Neji sulked silently. Shikamaru decided now was a good time to return to the interogation. "What else did they say?"

"Well, apparently TenTen likes Neji, Ino likes Shikamaru, Hinata likes Naruto, and I already knew Sakura like me." Sasuke spilt the information to his now astounded team.

"I thought she liked Lee..." Neji murmured to himself.

"No wonder she started having an interest in cloud gazing." Shikamaru muttered.

"What?!" Naruto's voice broke the harsh whispering.

"Yes so techinically, there were no interesting and unusual plots or ambushes, just a bunch of kunoichi girls giggling over their crushes." Sasuke said bitterly. "And to think you two geiniuses claim to be smart. Your idea was downright backwards." Sasuke added for more rubbing it in for Neji and Shikamaru.

Actually, the two had blushes... red hot blushes, and were staring off into space.

"Don't tell me you like them back."

Sasuke went unanswered.

For what was a good half hour, the boys did nothing but mope, trying to come up with ideas on how to sneak themselves into the store to even buy Icha Icha paradise. Although the idea was downright backwards, Sasuke had to admit, what Shikamaru was thinking was true, the only way to reverse being gay was being a pervert. But quite frankly, Sasuke didn't want to be known as a womanizer.

So Sasuke decided that he would only wip out the Icha Icha Book (In a very Kakashi-ish manner) when Team Seven were at their bridge. Seeing as though Sakura would be the only one to see him. And Naruto would be reading his own copy of whatever Volume of Icha Icha they could get their hands on. After much debait, Shikamaru finally was able to get his hands on a few copies, saving them the specifics on just how he obtained them.

This idea had better work.

Now, at the ungodly hour of two in the morning, Sasuke's very dull grey alarm clock woke him up once again. He stifled a yawn as he tumbled out of his bed, he really wasn't a morning person. He rustled through his room, piles of old clothes and laundry hanging about it. Dust was everywhere, and since Sasuke was a guy, he never did any sort of household chores. He only ate tomatoes, and drank water. And his laundry was barely even done at all.

As he staggered out of his house like a drunk, his eyesight blurred, he only had one destination, the trainig grounds. Sadly for him, he had no training partners, so all the training grounds was were a few old wooden targets, Kunai and Shurken sticking out in odd directions. Some were even burned, and targets were everywhere. But ever since his Sharingan had opened, he never seemed to miss his targets nowadays. Each bright red circle had over ten kunai sticking out of it. With a yawn he picked up more shuriken.

And so begins the morning.

Meanwhile, the young Haruno was also waking up. After grudgingly sleeping at twelve in the morning, and having her head in a medical book for a good part of the night, she collapsed in her bed under a heap of enormous books. The sleep-deprived kunoichi wanted nothing more than to sit in her bed, and drift into sleep. However, if she ever wanted to be a talented medic-nin, she would have to suck it up and train.

With a moan, she rolled over and fell onto the floor with a thump, her alarm clock playing radio songs rather loudly. She pryed a hand from underneath her and shuffled around the surface of the nightstand to find the off button. Once pressed, the alarm abruptly stopped, and she could hear the faint noise of Ino's from the other side of the wall. She faintly wondered if that raven haired girl was still here.

She tried running a brush through her hair, but it was a failed attempt. Without straigh-ironing it, her hair never did what she wanted. She instead opted to put it up into two low pony-tails, resembling pig-tails. She had bags under her eyes that not even the best cover up could lessen, and her kunoichi dress was getting much too short. It was so revealing now. Ino said that was good, but who would trust the pig with that kind of stuff?

Why did she ever become a ninja again?

As she trudged out of her apartment, her other friends coming out of theirs, they all went down the stairs together, tripping around like blind mice. TenTen had an onslaught of weapons, which held back her title of weapon mistress, and Ino looked the most pampered out of all of them. It was a complete miracle that Sakura was even able to lift the books and go down the stairs. She was beginning to think that she had insane strength, and throwing a large boulder forty-feet only proved that. Although by the time they were walking the streets, Sakura looked a little better, and cuter.

"Mou... why do we always have to wake up early?" Ino snorted.

TenTen moaned. "Training." Apparently, that answer was not good enough for pig, and she kept ranting how she wondered why she ever became a kunoichi and why she should continue if Sasuke was gay.

It appualed Sakura that the only reason Ino had become a kunoichi was because of Sasuke. "Ino, your judgement is pathetic." Sakura said pointedly.

"I don't care!" Ino wailed. "First Sasuke, now Shikamaru? Who's next, Neji?!?"

"Neji is gay too." TenTen reminded Ino, who just ended up wailing even more like a drunk.

That was the whole reason why Sakura arrived late for training with Kakashi-sensei. Most of her chakra was drained, and her chakra draining technique wasn't perfected, so she couldn't get anymore either. And it wasn't like she had enormous Chakra reserves like Naruto, or an abnormaly high tolerance for pain like Sasuke, so she was stuck dealing with the weakness she felt.

She also had to drag Ino all the way to her house again and put her in bed becuase she wasn't feeling well. Said pig was also the one who was left standing when the flu struck all of Konoha, which only proved to Sakura that the pig was faking it. TenTen seemed rather peeved the entire morning, so she dragged Ino out of the bed Sakura just put her in, and practically flew her over to her group.

And now, Sakura lugged herself over to Team Seven's red bridge, her other two teammates were their, not even half as hurt and Chakra drained as she was.

"Sakura-chan, what happened?!" Naruto gasped.

Sakura decided to drop her vow of silence, seeing as though the main reason she did it was now uninterested. "Training, ever heard of it?" She snapped, rather coldly.

The taughtness in her voice made Naruto recoil, a pained look of remniscent in his eyes. Sakura sighed. "Sorry Naruto-chan, I'm not having a very good morning." She even put the 'chan' in for the added apology.

Naruto smiled. "Sakura-chan! You're back!" He proceeded to envolope her in a large bear hug, and Sakura didn't find herself caring, seeing as though Naruto was no longer interested in her like that.

That was... until she saw the infamous Icha Icha sticking out of his pocket.

"NARUTO!!!!"

A loud slap was heard.

"Why-Why are you reading that?" Sakura gaped. "I thought you were no longer interested in women!"

Naruto looked down at the book. "I'm not gay Sakura-chan, what are you talking about?"

"B-But..." She looked over to Sasuke, who was reading the book too. "S-Sasuke-kun?! You too?!"

Sakura thought she was about to faint. "B-Both of you?!"

It was at that exact moment that a certain someone decided to poof into the scene. A person that Sakura knew was at the bottom of this, and the person she needed to blame.

Before poor Kakashi could react, Sakura used her newfound insane strength to lodge a fist into the side of his head, sending him flying into the river. A loud cry of "Kakashi-sensei!" Was heard, and the birds nearby flew out of the trees.

Kakashi slowly pulled himslef out of the river, his hitai-ate comically askew and now lodged into a mass of messy sliver hair. He was entirely soaked, but still had a calm expression as he walked back to the bridge, water in his wake.

"Now Sakura-chan, why did you-

"How dare you Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cut him off.

"What?"

"You're influencing Sasuke-kun and Naruto-chan to read Icha Icha! And now their minds are filled with dirty thoughts!!!" Sakura cried, her temper flaring with her chakra.

As the two talked out the situation, Naruto and Sasuke both were amazed that Sakura landed such a ferocious punch that was hard enough to lodge itself into the side of Kakashi's head and throw him off the bridge and into the torrent of water below them. She certainly had grown, and it might be the influence of the book, but Sasuke was really starting to see just how short her dress was...

"Okay, now with that all cleared out, lets start sparring!" Kakashi announced, placing his hita-ate back in place and his now lazy eye looking over the contents of the book that caused all the commotion.

"I want to spar with Sasuke-teme! I'm gonna beat him!" Naruto proclaimed. "Today's the day I beat him once and for all! Believe it!"

"No." Sasuke declared. "I'm sparring with Sakura."

Two mouths fell open.

"Me?!"

"Her?!"

Sasuke nodded. Sakura could do nothing but comply, hoping she had enough chakra to hold on. She was beginning to think she shouldn't have had morning training today.

"But Sasuke, Sakura is already tired from whatever training she did this morning." Kakashi reasoned, probably for Sakura's best interest, but it only effectively pissed her off.

"I'll spar with him if that's what he wants." Sakura growled, chakra flailing with her newfound anger.

And so began the sparring. At first, it was just a matter of dodging various weapons, like Shurkien and Kunai. Nothing too dificult, especially when you spar with TenTen. God, that girl throws unlimited amounts of _everything _at you. And even if he won't say it, Sasuke was impressed with Sakura's abilities. She was evenly dodging everything he threw at her, and the small cut he inflicted was already healed.

Needless to say, the Sharingan was an upper advantage. However, Sakura was becoming quite unexpected. Sometimes her fighting style was her own, other times it was similar to Ino's and even TenTen's. She came pretty close to hitting one of his pressure points too, which was alot like Neji and Hinata. She used similar jutsus of Shikamaru, and they were getting difficult to react to. She was truly unpredictable, even with the Sharingan.

But alas, Sasuke wouldn't let Sakura beat him so easily. He dodged a spray of kunai, and proceeded to make a clone of himself, and while Sakura was distracted with his clone, he snuck up behind her, and pressed a cold kunai to her throat, rather menacingly.

"Give up Sakura?" He teased, knowing full well the answer, and decided to indulge in his hard earned victory. "I thought you had improved a little bit, but I guess I was wrong."

Sakura's blood boiled. Without thinking, she used Ino's never failing strategy of allure. And although it wasn't like she wanted too, she could at least clarify it wasn't her tactic.

She turned around and pressed her lips to Sasuke's, his eyes widening, and he immediately dropped the kunai, scared stiff, and Icha Icha pulsing in his mind. She then proceeded to push them over so she was on top, a kunai now pressed to his throat.

"Do you give up, Sasuke-kun?" She gave a cat-like smile.

He would have answered, if they weren't in a rather intimate position, with her stradling his hips, and her zipper coming undone to reveal a growing cleavage. Like said, Sasuke's mind was tainted by Icha Icha, and his thought were becoming dangerously perverted at just what position they were in. The end of her dress was hitched up, he noticed, and her shorts were so short you couldn't even see them, revealing pale creamy skin to his eyes. Their hips aligned perfectly, and he could only hope that he wouldn't get... what did the book call it? An erection?

Sasuke knew full well he would need a cold shower later on that night.

* * *

_Poor, Poor Sasuke, his mind tainted by the Icha Icha! Review! TBC_


	6. S

_I'm thinking of skipping most of the Chuunin Exams, there so troublesome

* * *

_

Once upon a time, there was a story Sakura had read when she was just a little girl. Her and Ino were still fairly good friends, and did practically everything together, so it was only natural that Sakura and the pig read this story together. Of course, by the end of it, Sakura had her head resting in the book and drool coming out of her mouth. And Ino had flung her head back and was snoring.

But that was when they were younger.

The story of Yuna and Yoh was a fairy tale, the ones that just about everyone knows. It was probably extremely old too. Apparently it originated from Konoha, but the fairy tale had claims all the way in Rain Village so that information might not be true. But wherever it is from, it is probably the most infamous tale to ever be created.

It was the story that captured Sakura's heart.

The story, where a five-year-old prince of the moon, Yoh, finds his entire family slaughtered by his brother. Apparently, as the story goes, the young Yoh swears revenge on his elder brother Hao, to kill him the way he murdered their family, or something like that. And so the story unfolds that Yoh leaves the moon to go the the Earth.

There he finds a young girl by the name of Yuna, the first daughter of humanity. At this point, Rain village detests that the young girl's name is Yuna, and actually says its Eve, and says that Yoh is Adam.

But onto the story, the Konoha version, Yuna helps Yoh try to find his older brother, who is apparently somewhere on Earth. While the two are out looking, Yuna begins to fall in love with the young avenger. However, Yoh does not return the feeling, too involved in killing Hao to ever think about love.

Whatever happened after this point has been a mystery for Sakura, because she and Ino never got any farther than that. But however, Sakura was once again reminded when the paper boy brought a small flyer to her door step.

* * *

So finally Sakura got out of her apartment, and stepped into the humid air, along with Ino and TenTen, who also just stepped out of there apartments. Ino gave a ferrel moan when she felt the humidity, and TenTen was complaining too. Of course, none of the three noticed the flyers pasted on their doors until they doubled back. 

"The YunaYoh Festival is today?" Ino said, astounded.

TenTen groaned. "Did they have to make it so close to the Chuunin Exams?"

"I don't think I can make it, I need to train." Sakura sighed miserably.

"No, look Sakura, you're fine! You're a great kunoichi, and now all you need to do is unwind!" Ino protested, tapping the curled flyer in Sakura's face.

"So, it says to come in a kimono and a mask!" TenTen looked over the directions as she said this.

Ino gasped in delight. "Then lets go shopping!!!"

And much to TenTen's dismay, Ino hurled them all down the stairs and straight over to the Hyuga district to fetch Hinata. Once there, and after ringing the bell so much that the maids got upset, Hinata finally came down. She probably didn't need to go buy a kimono herself, but was happy to join them to go to the shopping district of Konoha.

So they all went to the equivalent of the mall, looking around at all the fancy things lined up in stalls, or the small shops filled with Kunai and Shuriken throwing stars, probably the only store TenTen enjoyed. But still, the thousands of people that flocked into the heat like ducks was amazing, and the streets were so crowded that the four could barely see eachother.

Then again, everyone steered clear of rampaging over Hinata, because they all knew about the Hyuga heir. And Ino was so loud that people didn't like to walk near her either. TenTen yelled and then proceeded to stab the people who got near her, probably because of her phobia of perverts. And Sakura's hair was so eye-catching that there was no way you could ever lose her, even if you tried.

"Oh! Look at this one!" Ino cried overjoyed, pressing her hands against the window of a store.

Sakura gasped too. "That ones adorable!"

"I just want to get out of here." TenTen muttered.

Without much more debait, Ino and Sakura burst through the double doors, intent on buying one of the many kimonos they had in stock before they were all gone. There were many kimonos, some in vibrant colors like red or neon green, and others looked beautiful with scenery painted onto them. But Sakura being Sakura, bought a pink one that had flurries of cherry blossoms designed into the fabric. Ino decided on a snowy periwinkle kimono.

The two shoved TenTen into a dressing room, Hinata there to judge, and made the weapon mistress try on an assortment of kimonos and have Hianta judge them. Finally, after much debait, TenTen was fitted into a purple kimono that had lillies painted on the sides. And after all of them were content, they all went to the ice cream store to binge on whatever flavors were in stock.

"Chocolate!" TenTen cried.

"Vanilla!" Ino put some money down as she told the clerk.

"Strawberry popsicle please." Sakura added cooly, looking out the window.

"Uh, blueberry." Hinata added also, putting her own money down.

After the clerk went away, the girls at the table immediately began their chitchat and latest gossip, seeing as though this could be the equivalent of the girls' usual afternoon tanning session.

"So, you know that its required for the Gennins to go to the dance right?" Ino asked her friends, in a hushed tone.

TenTen nodded slowly. "Some sort of thing to impress the elders so we can become Chuunin."

"Neji-nii-san and I have to go to represent the clan." Hinata added, taking a spoonful of icecream.

"Well, why wouldn't you go anyways? The festival is so cool!" Sakura asked around the popsicle in her mouth.

"There guys Forehead, there minds are twisted." Ino reminded her.

TenTen silently agreed.

"So, how are you and Naruto, Hinata?" Sakura leaned in closer until Hinata made an 'eep'.

She looked around nervously. "Well, I was going to tell him my feelings, because its not like it mattered, he's gay right? But then..."

"Then what?"

"Then..." Hinata blushed. "I saw an Icha Icha sticking out of his pocket."

"Oh gosh! I saw one with Neji too!" TenTen remembered, a hand covering her mouth.

Ino looked like she was in thought. "Icha Icha are neon orange right?"

The girls nodded their heads.

"Then Shikamaru had one too." Ino concured.

"So... maybe their not gay." Sakura pondered aloud.

The girls went into uneasy silence. So, their crushes weren't gay, then what were they doing over at Neji's house? Maybe they were really just sleeping over? It could just be that the girls were getting paranoid. Crushes can to do that to people, so maybe they were going deeper into it, like love? The four didn't know. They were just kunoichis with crushes.

"Well, you know what, it's four o'clock, and I need a good three hours to do my hair." Ino paused as she sat up. "I'll see you all at the festival right?"

"Yep." They all chimed in unison.

"Uh... I better go to, my father doesn't like me wandering around." Hinata stood up too.

TenTen gave a look at her two buns of hair. "I need to do something to my hair."

"I wonder if I should put it up..." Sakura thought out loud as they all exited the ice cream parlor.

"Okay everyone, meet at the festival exactly at seven okay?" Ino reminded them, and they all agreed.

Of course, as the four girls split down the intersection of the shopping district in Konoha, that they weren't the only ones that were there. As far as shopping went, Shikamaru was dragged by his mother, all the way to the shoe store so that the two of them could do all sorts of girlish errands that could easily pass as being troublesome. Sadly for the Nara child, his mother wanted him to attend the festival no matter how many times he said it was a drag, and was currently dragging him into a men's kimono store.

Also about to enter the very same store, was Neji, who had decided long ago that embarrasing the clan and ditching formal parties and such wasn't the best idea, and had to buy a kimono as well. Seeing as though him and Hinata were having to attend, much to his disdain, a street party, that was supposedly made for all to attend. He could see why Hinata was going, but there was no point in him going, he wasn't even part of the main branch, much less the heir.

Another completely annoyed male headed to the store was Sasuke. Who was there to pick out a kimono because it was required for him to go to represent the Uchiha Clan, said clan was apparently a great donor for the YunaYoh festival or also called Moon Festival, and the Hokage had personally wanted him to go, saying that everyone in his family always attended to show their graditude to the moon. As far as Sasuke cared, this was just another stupid requirement for him to go to.

For a complete other reason, was Naruto who was going to the kimono store. For once in the childs life, he actually knew something the other three genius prodigies didn't. When the four boys were younger, Shikamaru cloud gazed, Neji and Sasuke trained, so Naruto ended up reading the old tale of Yuan and Yoh. He knew that in the end, Yuna kissed Yoh to prove her undying love for him, and to tell Yoh that revenge isn't as great as love.

Apparently someone should have told Sasuke of this tale.

And Naruto also knew, that since this was the first year the Rookie 9 and Team Gai were able to attend, none of them knew that they would have to kiss someone. But Naruto did know, because he read the tale, and was overjoyed at the thought of kissing Sakura, and knew he just had to go. He believed that it was in his destiny to kiss Sakura tonight, and she would prove her undying love for him instead, just like Yuna did for Yoh.

Naruto being Naruto, didn't realize that Yoh was more like Sasuke, and Yuna was more like Sakura.

As the four walked in, Shikamaru's mom immediately spotting a kimono and running off, they all imediately caught sight of eachother.

"Oi! You guys are going to the festival tonight too?"

"Sadly."

"It's so troublesome."

"Hn."

And these are suppose to be their greetings to friends and teammates.

Naruto grinned. "So, who are you guys going after?"

"What are you onto now you imbecile?" Sasuke asked, but it was more of a rhetorical question.

Naruto laughed. "Y'know, who are you going to kiss at the festival?"

"K-Kiss?!?!" Neji blurted out, shock relavent in his translucent eyes.

Shikamaru groaned. "Oh damn, we have to kiss someone?"

"Of course! It's the YunaYoh festival, you always have to kiss someone!"

Sasuke visibly paled. "On the lips?"

"I think so, the person is suppose to be your age too." Naruto explained.

Shikamaru sighed. "Their really pushing this."

"Does that mean that all of the Rookie 9 and Team Gai have to kiss someone?" Neji questioned, dreading the answer.

"I'd suspect, they're probably doing this so that the higher clans intervene with eachother." Shikamaru cncluded, using his genius skills to understand the situation.

"Higher clans?" Naruto echoed forlornly.

"Yes," Shikamaru drawled. "Probably so that families can begin to make arranged marriages."

"So... That means Neji and I are at the highest risk?" Sasuke questioned, and the other three all knew the answer, and none spoke. Although the thought of an arranged marriage was not sitting well in their brains.

"What?! I don't want to marry anyone I don't want to!" Naruto slammed his fists into the wall at the back of the store, and the customers promptly looked up. "Sorry." he apologized.

"Look Naruto, the only person in real risk here is Neji, because there really isn't anyone that is Sasuke's caretaker." Shikamaru rubbed the bridge fo his nose like he had a headache. "So the only one here who needs to worry in Neji."

"Damn." Neji swore, and folded his arms.

Sasuke looked around the store. "I guess we should start looking."

"So troublesome."

So the four boys split into different directions, a feeling of dread hung in the air, as they nimbly searched for something appropriate to wear. The four wouldn't say it, but there only real hope of salvation was to be able to find any female friends (which are few and far between) that they had and pretend to be with them, in hopes that they wouldn't be arranged with some stranger.

At this point, Neji decided that his fate was sealed, with his usual destiny and fate speech, that everyone has heard maybe a thousand times. He almost was certain that the Main Hyuga Branch would almost immediately pair him up with the most skankiest woman they could find, and make him have to live the rest of his life with a bitch who wouldn't shut up. The poor Hyuga boy was certain his future was sealed.

On the other hand, Shikamaru was caring less. He was fairly sure his parents were much to lazy to plan any sort of thing, and if he really had to, he would probably come up with an ingenius plan to escape his wicked and bossy wife, and never have to see her again. He was intelligent, and had no plans of marriage in his young teenage brain, and if it was, the thought of marriage was secluded into the back of his mind, along with sex, girls, and whatever nonsense that was troublesome.

But everything was troublesome for the Nara boy.

Actually, Sasuke was fine with being paired up with a wife, as long as he never had to see her, he could care less. It would help him with his second goal, restoring the Uchiha clan. But no matter how many times he convinced himself, he really wanted nothing to do with girls at the moment. Sakura was enough 'girl' for him. He didn't like girls, and he certainly wasn't gay, but he just wasn't ready for anything.

He had convinced himself that he was just too young.

Naruto had only one dream that he hoped to come true at the festival, kiss Sakura senseless and she would immediately fall in love with him. And then they could get married, and she would no longer think about Sasuke. She would be all his, and then he could be Hokage with Sakura as his wife. But those were just fantasies. As long as Sakura got to at least dance with him, he would never leave her alone. Poor Sakura, she had no idea how much running away she would have to do at the festival.

* * *

The big moment had arrived, and everyone was buzzling in the big fair grounds of Konoha. Meaning _everyone. _The Rookie 9 and Team Gai, other teenagers, adults, ninjas, ANBU, even the Hokage himself was there. The streets buzzed with pink and purple lights, lanterns hanging on every tree. Everyone was in fancy kimonos, adorned with designs, and people were all over the grassy hills, picknicking as couples, waiting for the fireworks. 

Even Sakura, Ino, TenTen, and Hinata were there too. They were seated on a checkered blanket, on a rolling hill, along with many, many other people. There was so much chatter it was hard to hear eachother, and everyone was wearing colorful masks. In the hazy moonlight, it was possible to see the first beginnings of fireworks that lit up the sky.

"Everyone! Attention please!"

Everyone immediately quieted down once the Hokage began to speak.

"I would like to commence this years YunaYoh festival! Please enjoy all the dancing tonight!" He announced, adorned in his Hokage robes, and the elders and his advisors around him. People began to cheer, and bursting Sake was seen flaring around the hills.

"Hear that? The festival started!" Ino squealed, overjoyed.

TenTen snorted. "You're just happy because you get to dance with Shikamaru."

"And you're unhappy because you have competition for Neji." Sakura commented.

TenTen whirled. "Oh hey-

"Girls, lets keep it civil." Hinata crooned, putting herself inbetween the two infuriated kunoichis. Sakura and TenTen both snorted in disagreement, but neither sad anything.

"Well, you guys can stay here and keep it real, I'm gonna start dancing with Shikamaru." Ino placed her mask over her face and fixed her blonde hair.

"The Pig's right! I'm gonna find Sasuke!" Sakura too stood up and pushed her mask into place.

TenTen and Hinata joined in too, and soon, the four had split up into different directions to find their crushes on one of the many rolling green hills of the Konoha Fairgrounds.

It was actually rather difficult. The crowded hills were filled with lounging friends and picknickers, littering the green hills, chatting away in enjoyment. The dim paper lanterns weren't much help either, the light too dim to really see anything. The kunoichis found themselves relying on their shinobi skills to be able to find their way through the crowd, and the many people who were now standing to dance.

Music was loud in everyone's ears, the equivalent of someone shouting near your eardrum. Sakura found it hard to concentrate, wriggling her way through all the people, whether they be dancing or chatting with friends. She also happened to be completely lost. She had no inthought on where she was, or even for that matter, how to get back to her picknick spot with Hinata, TenTen and Pig.

As she saw an opening in the crowd, she felt a slight tug at her leg, and she tripped over-

To find herself in the arms of a masked man.

To say the least, the pair found themselves staring into the small slits in their masks where eyes were seen, trapped in swirling depths. They were trapped in a moment of time, one just about to fall, and the other catching the fair maiden. Lucky for Sakura, her hair was put up, and the lighting made her seem more like a red-head then a pink-head.

And the gorgeous boy, was looking alot like Sasuke.

It could be the way his raven hair stuck up the way one might describe a chicken's or the smirk that adorned his face as he caught her, but she could just tell that it was Sasuke. But mainly because she could see a faint gelam of an Uchiha necklace glimmering around his neck. Yep, there is only one Uchiha left, and that's Sasuke. He was terrible at hiding his identity.

"Oh thank you." Sakura snapped out of her daze.

The blue mask shimmered in the pale lantern light. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine I-ouch- am okay." Sakura tried to get up, but she ended up twisting her ankle even more so than it already was.

His smile visibly wavered as he noticed her ankle. "That looks really bad." He commented. She looked down and noticed how it stuck up in a funny angle.

"Eh heh, I don't think I'll be walking on it for long." She tried to give a self-concious laugh, but failed terribly.

"C'mon, I'll help you."

It was rather generous of Sasuke to suddenly spring to the aid of a stranger. Especially, Sasuke on that matter, the boy only cared about himself. But of course, young Sakura didn't realize that the two were under the watchful eyes of the Konoha Elders, who were just waiting for a chance to tie Sasuke down to an unrly housewife. Apparently Sasuke has been causing trouble for them, and the elders need him out of their hair, what better way then to tie him down to a wife?

Sasuke dragged Sakura to a cherry tree, fully knowing that the elders were literally drilling holes into the back of his head. He had come to the desicion that this girl was fine, she wasn't pushy, she wasn't strong enough to ressist, and she certainly wasn't someone he knew, or she would immediatley squeal in joy like his usual fangirls.

"And your name is?" Sasuke politely asked, sitting down at the arc of the tree with her.

Sakura seemed flustered for a moment. "M-Mamiko-san." She suddenly remembered the fake name she used for Shukaku. "I'm Mamiko."

Sasuke smirked under his mask. "I see Mamiko-san. Would you like some tea? I can get some, it's right down the hill." He offered.

Sakura smiled. "Yes please."

She watched his retreating form meander down the hill, his form soon lost in the mixture of people closer to the bottom of the tall hill. The actual hill itself, where she sat leaning on a tree, was far up away from the rest of the crowd, the yell of people turning to faint whispers. Quite romantic actually. The secluded spot under the cherry tree, where her prince charming rescued her to. She didn't know why Sasuke was being kind, but she also didn't know about the elders either.

"Hello Mamiko-san."

The voice startled her, smooth and suave.

"Or should I say, Sakura-chan?"

So it was him, that Shukaku man from before. She hadn't spoken to him in a while.

She looked behind her. "Shukaku-san?"

For a small moment, there was no reply.

"I'm not Shukaku."

She was startled for a moment. Who was it if it wasn't Shukaku? She hadn't told anyone else her fake name. The man stepped out to reveal himself as a young red-headed boy, a very familiar red-head for that matter.

"G-Gaara-san!" Sakura immediately remembered their first encounter, and was fairly sure of his strength.

But he didn't seem as mad as their first meeting. "Hello Sakura-chan, lovely festival, are they often in Konoha?" He seemed to be one for useless banter and small talk.

"No, just once a year, its the YunaYoh festival." She replied solemnly, meeting his gaze from where he stood. "I take it you're not from around here."

He nodded. "Sunagakure." He answered pleasantly.

Her shock faded over. "I've heard it's very hot there, but isn't it a dessert?"

"Hot, sticky, and the sun never goes away."

She wasn't sure if she was suppose to take that as a joke, but he didn't seem like he was an enigmatic figure to be scared of, but everyone seemed to fear him.

He looked up suddenly. "I'm afraid I'll have to cut our visit short, your friend is arriving."

Sakura looked in the same direction. "Oh, he is." Apparently Sasuke hadn't realized she had company, because he was looking in the other direction, toward the Elders and Hokage hill.

"I'll see you soon."

And before she knew it he bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek before dissapearing in a whirl of sand. She touched her cheek remniscently, it still tingled from where his lips met the rosey flesh. "Soon?" She echoed, looking at the sky as if it would tell her some sort of answer.

"What's soon?"

Sakura turned around from her dazed position to see Sasuke standing infront of her with tea.

She shook her head. "Nothing." She felt a little bad for lying to Sasuke.

He set the tea down in the grass and took a seat next to her. He pointed towards the night sky. "The fireworks are starting." Almost as if on cue, fireworks burst into the sky like dashes of color.

The two sat together in silence, occasionally sipping tea and the occasional sideglance, and a mad blush. Because the two had never met, this was their first encounter and it was more like a date than anything, not that Sakura was complaining. She liked Sasuke's company, but there was a thought that plagued her mind; why was Sasuke doing this?

He was never kind before, not even to people he knew for ages, and suddenly, he's opening up to a person he doesn't even know, although technically its just Sakura but he doesn't know that. He doesn't know anything about her, and yet he's being so kind. What did she do different? She was acting like herself, but with a mask, and it seemed enough for Sasuke to be freindly with her.

"Sakura-chan, where are you?!"

Sakura immediately looked downwards to the bottom of the hill, where a shouting Ino was interupting everyone else's time. Apparently Sasuke hadn't noticed because he was still intently looking at the fireworks, occasional skewing the elders a vague look. She hated to leave, but Ino might blow her cover if she didn't.

"Ah, I think I sould be going now. My ankle feels better." She began to shuffle to get up.

Sasuke seemed a little startled at this, as he thought 'rejection'. A girl has NEVER rejected Uchiha Sasuke. But he took it with a smile. "Oh."

"Thank you, I really enjoyed the festival." She gave a small bow, enough for politness but not enough to show her famous pink hair.

Sasuke smirked under his mask. "No problem, I enjoyed it as well."

And just when she turned around, he grabbed her wrist lightly, and she spun around.

"Take this."

An Uchiha Fan necklace.

* * *

For the next morning and even for the next few days, Sakura was overjoyed. Sasuke had given her, Sakura Haruno, and Uchiha Necklace. Those things were custom made, and extremely hard to come by, and also sold for high prices. Not like she would ever sell it. This was the last one, probably belonging to Sasuke's mother or distant relative, but she did know one thing about the Uchiha culture, and Uchiha never gives away their necklace unless their is an infatuation between the two. 

It had Sakura jumping in the air in happiness.

What she didn't know, is that the Elders had an eye on Sasuke and Neji, the two males of the Hyuga and Uchiha clan that were both going to be of elligible ages for marriage soon. And since Sasuke had no parents, the Elders could easily decided his bride. Poor Neji had to go around with Hiashi brooding over his back. Still, a main reason why Sasuke had given her the necklace was because it meant that he was interested in someone, or he wasn't single.

And if he was dating, than the Elders couldn't pair him up with some ditzy daughter of theirs.

Because quite frankly, Ami, one of the elders granddaughters, wasn't the person he wanted to get married to. He hated those morons, the ones that tagged along with him, asking for dates and such.

And this Mamiko girl was perfect.

But he hadn't caught her name, so opted to give her the Uchiha necklace, because there was no one else who had it. A splendid plan on his part. That is, if so called Mamiko girl even wore it. But what he didn't know, is that his discription of Mamiko, red hair and green eyes, was wrong. He should be looking for pink.

"Oh Sakura, it was wonderful!" Ino did a twirl for an added affect.

Sakura skewered her a side glance. "What was wonderful?"

"The dance of course!" TenTen chimed in. "Neji was such a gentlemen!"

"Although I'm a little dissapointed." Ino sighed dramitcally. "We were suppose to kiss, but only the adults got to."

"That's a good thing." Hinata reminded them, because the thought of that was probably too lewd in her book.

"Yeah, but now I doubt Neji will even talk to me." TenTen muttered. "It'll be so akward at training."

"I know, Shikamaru will probably avoid me." Ino added.

Hinata smiled. "N-Naruto didn't seem to mind, so I-I don't think I need to worry."

"Sasuke didn't even know it was me, so it doesnt' matter." Sakura stated, in a matter-of-fact voice.

The four were walking, following the same path that they always did until they had to split into different directions. And of course, Ino being Ino, instantly became sidetracked once they passed a large building that read, "Clothing Department." Almost immediately did Ino spring into the store with TenTen, Sakura, and Hinata grudgingly following her example.

The cream colored map in the center fo the plaza indicated that they needed to get up a few floors until they hit the make up section, because Ino apparently needed more cover up to cover her bruises from 'excessive' training.

The elevators were nice, and though crammed full with people. The four kunoichis entered the small cramped elevator, and immediately felt a little pessimistic about the elevator getting up without falling from all the wait. However, Sakura's thoughts drifted somewhere else. To Sasuke actually. As she rode up the elevator with TenTen, Hinata, Ino and everyone else, her thoughts were focused on Sasuke.

She sighed miserably. "Do you ever wish you have a jutsu that keeps your emotions away?" The question was mainly for herself, but it seemed open for public debait.

"Yes." Ino agreed quite empathetically, her thoughts probably somewhere on a certain Nara.

Hinata sighed. "That would be quite useful."

"Someone has to invent that justsu sometime, I'll use it." TenTen commented.

"I would like one too." One said.

"I need one for my wife." Another exasperated male sighed.

"Then maybe you should do your chores more often." Came an immediate reply.

Unaware that she had started a debait that was turning sour by the minute, Sakura exited out of the elevator with a glum face with her friends. Her face was all clammy and disgusting from all the make up she wore yesterday, and she wanted noting more than to buy some of the items on sale.

She needed some cover up quickly.

Ino was already bossing around the clerk behind the counter. "I want some lipstick please!"

She had a fairly good concpet of why Sasuke liked the her at the festival more than the one he saw everyday, because she looked absolutely pampered. Last night, she had perfectly done make up that complemented her skin tone, and didn't make her look dead. Maybe if she was to look nice more often, would Sasuke notice her.

She almost immediately caught sight of a nice make up kit and grinned.

Plan, "Retrieve Sasuke's Attention By Looking Nice" was now in action.

* * *

_Looks like Sakura has a new plan! What will happen? Review to find out! TBC_


	7. S:

INTRODUCIN' BONUS CHAPPIE "S"

Fan-fiction By: TheAimlessReviewer

Original Story By: FruitsandCandy

A/N: Sakura is a bit OOC here, prettier than in the actual series, and her personality is a little tweaked. She has her Shippuden outfit too. She's pretty much the same.

------------------------------------------------------Summer Breeze -Hapless Romantics bonus chapter

It was a pretty day in Konoha, the azure blue skies nearly cloudless, dotted ever so slightly by white smears, far up in the everlasting blue. It was something unimaginable, and so pretty that it seemed nearly unreal. Like a reflection of the deep blue ocean, so wide and far that the eye closes off at the horizon. Something only found in Konoha.

It was the delphinium blue sky that made tourists nearly flock to Konoha every summer to see the fireworks of the summer night festival spread out like stars across a banner of blue skies. Almost a tradition really.

And even though the many tourists from Waterfall, Suna, not many from Kumo, Mist, and Grass flocked in hordes of people, tacky Hawaiian shirt with floral patterns, tight over-the-waist pants and big cameras around their necks with over priced sunglasses came to Konoha invading the city, the city bustled with just as much charisma as it always did.

It was good for the cities economy, bad for the citizens.

Especially bad for one Uchiha Sasuke.

About fourteen from Kumo, fifty-three from Mist, two-hundred from Suna, and a good thirty from Waterfall made up most of Sasuke's new fan club, not to mention the nearly hundred standing from Konoha itself. Which meant skimpy dressed girls with their boobs hanging out, short mini-skirt, flirtatious giggles, and tank tops would be surrounding him constantly.

All of them had glossed lips and caked mascara, reeking of perfume.

He was about to gag from the overwhelming stench.

"Someone please help…" He whispered, but it was to no avail, the girls were surrounding him in a circle, there was no escape.

He was to face his eminent doom.

"Hey! Hey! Guy coming through!"

Sasuke was nearly relieved to hear the blonde's voice.

Naruto pushed his way through the girls to reach Sasuke, standing right next to him, and the girls backed off a bit, much to Sasuke's relief.

"You don't want to chase him!" Naruto yelled to the now silent crowd of fan-girls.

Sasuke was relieved to hear that too. Hopefully Naruto had a plan.

"He's gay! He's totally not into girls!"

Sasuke's eyes bulged. That god damn idiot.

The said idiot smiled sheepishly at the glaring daggers on him from Sasuke.

"Really?" One asked. "I love Yaoi!"

"Omigod Shounen-Ai? Really???? That's my favorite!!!!"

And the crowds and cheer erupted all over again, even worse than before. Sasuke wanted to kill himself; Naruto's plan might have worked, if these girls weren't just Uchiha fan-girls, but also Yaoi fan-girls. Which made the limited excuses even become less than before, much less.

This was not Uchiha Sasuke's day, no, not even his summer.

-----------------------------------Roses

Across town, walking down the street with a bag of groceries in her hand, a rose haired girl counted the tomatoes in her plastic grocery bag. She wore a red vest, fingerless gloves, and a short khaki skirt with a kunai holster to her leg. She counted the tomatoes, counted her money, stared into the air thinking, and then walked to another stall.

"Hello." Her voice was melodic, long cherry hair flowing beautifully in the wind. "Can I have four peppers?"

The young clerk nearly dropped to the ground, a heated blush on his cheeks. "Y-Y-Yes ma'am."

He immediately began to grab peppers, his now sweaty hands not able to grasp the yellow bell peppers, and he kept slipping repeatedly, his blush worsening. The young lady (who is still Gennin, I just changed her outfit) gave a giggle, soft a musical to his ears. Even if she was laughing at him.

"Thank you so much." He met piercing argon eyes. "Here's your money."

She handed over five ryo, the young clerk nearly slipping to catch the money that she innocently placed in his sweaty hand.

She walked away, her fresco hair swaying in the light summer breeze, as she began to count her groceries once more. All eyes were on her, but she didn't notice, counting away in her head, checking her grocery list as she made her way around the market. The clack of her shinobi sandals on the cement echoed, as most people gawked at her beauty.

As she tilted her head to the endless porcelain blue sky, counting, she hadn't realized where she was going and-

**BUMP!**

The young girl swished to the side, nearly hitting the pole when she was counting; however, the person on the other side was not as lucky. The young boy hit the pole head on, not having any shinobi instinct to remember where exactly he hit the pole.

He had rather tattered clothes, and he seemed to have a servant outfit as he rubbed his head.

"Ow…"

"Are you alright?" She bent down, her jade eyes filled with worry, perfect rose hair framing her porcelain face and ruby lips.

He blushed, blinking. "You…"

"?" She tilted her head, not understanding.

"You look just like her!!!!"

"Uh…" Sakura blinked. "Like who?"

"Like Haruka-sama!"

Sakura still didn't understand. "Okay…"

"Let me explain." The boy got up, and so did Sakura. "I work for a wealthy high-merchant from Rice Country. You see, every year he went to the Konoha summer festival with his young daughter, Haruka, to see the fireworks."

"Oh, I see." Sakura nodded, her scarlet red lips in an "o"

"But Haruka was stricken with a terrible illness, and died. And now, her father has a slight amnesia problem, and cannot remember that this daughter his dead. He's very old."

"I see."

"And we, the servants under his highness-sama, need someone who looks like her to act like her in the festival for just one night."

Sakura's brows furrowed. "So you want me to act like this Haruka person?"

"Please!" The servant begged. "There's practically no one else who has pink hair like yours! And your lips, and your eyes and smile, your nearly a replica of Haruka-sama!"

Sakura frowned a bit, before smiling. "I'll do it!"

--------------------------------------Daffodils

The white kimono over his thin frame hung loosely, but he walked stoically with his back straight and his head held high. As a branch member, it was impressive to be standing next to the Hyuga Heiress, Hinata, even though it was just to act as her body guard. Still, he was two down from the clan head, Hiashi, and that made him proud. The Heiress looked around nervously, the sun already in the afternoon sky and the streets of Konoha even more crowded.

As a prestigious clan of Konoha, it was one of the responsibilities to come to all festivals and such, to shake the hand of the guest of honor.

"Who do you think the guest of honor is?" Hanabi asked her sister, and Neji.

"I-I don't b-believe it has been announced yet Imouto." Hinata stuttered, hands in front of her, placed together.

"Are there any other clans coming?" Hanabi looked up to her father, as they walked through the crowd.

"The remaining Uchiha, Aburame, and perhaps Inuzuka." Said the clan leader, voice stoic.

It was enough for Hinata to almost cringe at the coldness. But Neji kept his head, he wouldn't be afraid, for his father. This was one of his father's beloved festivals, the Summer Festival that he used to take Neji to when he was younger.

"I really want to know who that guest of honor is." Hanabi frowned. "He's supposed to be a legend."

"T-That's only what Kaa-san said." Hinata reminded, shyly. "I-It may not be t-true."

"It is." Her father looked straight ahead, gaze unwavering as he spoke. "He is a man of much wisdom; it is sad that he is so old and may pass on soon."

Neji tuned out as he looked at the crowd of tourists, gasps running around as the Hyuga clan was spotted, in ceremonial white kimonos, all matching. Many gathered, but he didn't need to watch for their faces. He wondered when the other clans would show up to the festival, since there were only so many that were prestigious enough to attend.

Speaking of which, the Uchiha had arrived, followed by his best buddy Naruto, and a horde of fan-girls at his tail, the plaza where the ceremony would take place as soon as night fell over. It was so crammed in the large plaza, only the clans actually had space to move, since tourists cleared the way to take pictures.

"Oh Uchiha-kun what's your first name?"

"Uchiha-kun I love you!"

"Uchiha-kun!"

"Uchiha-kun!"

His head hurt terribly, and he felt the headache hit him square in the face. He shoed some of them away with those death glares of his, but most of the time it wasn't enough. Times like this he wished he had that thing that Itachi had, that made a dome around himself, invisible, that the fan-girls dared not to cross, and stared at him from afar. With Sasuke, they crowded around him like animals.

"_Sasuke-kun…"_

His head swiveled when he heard the voice.

Beautiful, like a concerto of music flooding his ears.

So peaceful and striking that he could listen to the melodic voice for the rest of his life. Calming his headache so easily, soothing his senses. Just one name, just one word, and he was at peace. It was enough, even though it probably just his imagination, those claret red lips smooth and glossy without the use of make-up, long eye lashes covering sea green eyes.

Meanwhile, a maiden frowned ever so slightly.

Her glorious and tamed streams of pale russet hair, eyes of sage, strands of cherry framing her abnormally pale face, with astonishing poppy red lips. Edible lips, uttering a single name, worried.

"Uh…Haruka-sama?"

The girl snapped out of her day dreaming, her eyes leaving the site of beholding. She turned her head to the maid, dressed in formal black and white, looking at her questioningly.

The rose-haired girl smoothed her white kimono with a cherry sash and Sakura petals on it, her hair pinned up, but still cascading down in curls. Side-swept bangs framing her heart-shaped face, and her soft smile.

"I'm fine." She told the maid, with a soothing smile.

"Then lets go meet his highness! He's expecting you for tea." The maid smiled, leading the way.

What Sakura saw was not what she expected.

A man, with a long beard and a wise look on his face, contemplative, with a white kimono on his frame. He wasn't thin, yet not fat, somewhere in between. His fingers looked calloused, many maids waiting on his every demand, a pot of tea in front of him.

"My little daffodil." He smiled through his long gray beard. "It's great to see you."

"Ah, Otou-chan!" She smiled brightly, fears washed away, as she took a seat on the pillow.

"How was your day in Konoha my little daffodil?" The man sipped his tea; daffodil seemed to be his pet name.

"Great!" She said cheerfully. "There's so much to do around here."

"It's great to hear you're enjoying your time here." He sipped his tea again.

"Oh yes, very much so!"

There was an uneasy silence on Sakura's part, as she hoped she was portraying this Haruka girl correctly. She looked at one of the maids for advice, who gave her a "thumbs up" that she was doing very well. At least she hoped she was doing well. She took a tentative sip of her brewed tea; that actually tasted nice on her tongue.

"Uh, your Highness and Haruka-sama!" The boy she met earlier came in, bowing low, before speaking.

"Ah yes indeed." The wise merchant beyond his years stood up, and so did Sakura.

Sakura stole a glance out the window.

"But the sun is only now setting, the festival doesn't begin until nightfall." Sakura protested.

The man looked at her quizzically. "My little daffodil have you hit your head in during all this fun? We are-and always have been-the guests of honor."

Sakura hid her horror.

Guests of honor?!?!??!?! The maids didn't tell her this!

"O-Oh," Sakura delicately put the back of her hand to her head in a princess-like way. "I think I may have hit something on my way here, you know how clumsy I get…"

"Ah yes." The man laughed. "You can be such a little clumsy girl my dear daffodil."

They walked out, the wise old man laughing deeply, Sakura feeling a bit jittery and wanting to faint in a Hinata-style.

-------------------------------------------Peony

_Not good not good not good not good not good... _Sakura was having a panic attack. She hadn't expected this.

She thought it was just going to be accompanying a rich tourist around all day, talking, and getting a lot of help from the maids. Nothing as drastic as this. No one told her she had to shake hands with every great clan in Konoha! This was not good, not good at all. Something was bound to screw u; nothing ever went according to plan for her.

And even her horoscope had said that today was not a good day to do things drastic.

"Psst, Sakura, show time!" One of the maids whispered, and Sakura wanted to faint. Now.

"Do you want a last minute snack Sakura-san?" One of the other maids asked.

"N-no I'm not very hungry."

Her stomach was full of butterflies anyways.

"Good luck!"

And she was pushed onto the podium quite quickly, with a hard and enthusiastic shove from one of the maids. The crowd applauded as she came out, and she bowed formally, hands neatly together in front of her as she walked to stand next to her father (actually, it might have been grand-father, who knows?) with a blush tinting her cheeks.

"Our guest of honor and his daughter, Haruka!"

Many cheered loudly, teenage boys gawking at her figure. It made her blush even more than she already was. All this attention, because most weren't looking at the actual guest of honor, but at her.

The announcer began to speak again. "Please welcome, The Hyuga Clan!"

More applauding, and four of the Hyuga's walked onto the large stage, where she noticed Hyuga Hinata and Neji, with the heiress with a blush covering her cheeks like a tomato. Hinata blinked when she saw Sakura, who was posing as Haruka, but Haruka looked a lot like Sakura anyways.

The head clan bowed to her first, and she mimicked the action, a heated blush rising in her cheeks subtly.

Then Neji, in all his glory, afterwards a just as shy and embarrassed as she was Hinata and a rambunctious Hanabi.

They shook hands with her father, bowing politely to her.

"Good evening Haruka-sama."

It felt weird that a blushing Neji would put a "sama" at the end of her name.

"Good evening to you too, Neji-san."

As the announcer went on with the other clans, and she bowed to all of them, seeing Kiba, and Shino, many other people whom were still Gennin yet got to participate. It was then she realized that this was one of the boring parts of the ceremony, even though all eyes landed on her small frame. It made her feel a bit nervous as she bowed to Kiba, who did the same to her. The clan heads often talked to her "father".

"G-Good evening Haruka-sama."

Kiba was as red as a tomato as he bowed, and Sakura held in a giggle.

"Good evening Kiba-san."

When the Aburame clan headed to the stage, they waited for a moment before going to formally bow to Sakura and her fake "father". Sakura was starting to get annoyed by the announcer, who didn't seem to know how to keep his mouth shut, rambling on about Konoha history, or about the clan that was about to be introduced. She was thankful the man was yet to ramble about her and the merchant.

"Good evening Haruka-sama."

Shino may have been blushing, she couldn't tell because his kimono had a high collar.

"Good evening Shino-san."

And, then she caught her breath in her throat.

Gorgeous raven hair smoothed out, a white kimono hanging to his frame, and piercing obsidian eyes. A look of shock passing his face momentarily as he walked onto the stage.

Uchiha Sasuke.

Many fan-girls below squealed, and yelled, giggled, anything to try and catch his attention, but his gaze did not waver from the girl in front of him, the one he had been searching for the entire day to soothe his senses. The person he had been looking for the entire day, the only one who could clear the headache that had been itching with him all day.

Sakura.

But the announcer had said that she was Haruka, the wealthy and friend of the Hokage's daughter, her well-known business man of a father cam nearly every year, with her. But this couldn't be Haruka, this had to be Sakura.

Scarlet lips like an angel, over porcelain white skin that gleamed like diamonds, and emerald eyes the looked over a sea green ocean. Plum pink hair framing her delicate face with a small smile on her lips. A pink tinted blush on her cheeks, the formal white kimono with pink flowers dotting it adorning her small frame.

This had to be Sakura.

"Sakura-?"

Said girl gasped, the blush spreading. "Keep it down Sasuke-kun!"

"What are you doing posing as Haruka?" He asked her quietly, bowing as she mimicked the motion.

"Long story." She cut him off before he asked anymore. "Tell you later."

The answer was sufficient enough for him, as he got down from the stage, like all the other clan heads did, his fan-girls almost immediately trying to swarm, but he shut them up with a glare that rivaled his older brothers. Meanwhile, Sakura had to listen to the announcer rag on about Konoha history before she got to exit the stage, finally happy that the entire ordeal was over.

"And now I am happy to announce," She heard the announcer say as she walked back stage. "The beginning of the Summer Festival!"

Cheers erupted as fire works spread over the midnight blue sky like stars of adorning neon colors.

------------------------------------Daisy

The fireworks were truly beautiful, as her "father" had already remarked. The daze of colors as they shot into the sky, the people around the plaza, drinking sake and dancing crazily around the plaza without worry, it was nice to see it. All her friends were down in the horde of people, dancing with each other, laughter everywhere.

She wanted to be down there too.

But she looked at the wealthy merchant, chatting away with the Hokage, as if they had known each other since the beginning of time. She didn't want to upset her father. She opted to look at them longingly instead. She wondered who Sasuke was dancing with, if he was dancing at all.

The business man seemed to catch on. "Haruka-chan, do you want to dance with them?"

She looked up, startled. "Oh that's okay, I can stay here-

"But I insist." He smiled through his beard. "Go have fun."

She smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

She got up from the secluded are where her "father" and the Hokage were talking, walking towards the many people who were all looking at her in the midst of the dancing celebration. She felt a blush tint her cheeks as she saw nervous boys who wanted to ask her to dance. There were a lot of people, looking at her as if debating whether to ask her or not, embarrassed looks on their faces.

She felt the need to pick someone she knew.

"Excuse me," She walked up to a familiar face. "Would you like to dance?"

"S-sure!" The blonde replied, blushing.

In all her years of knowing the boy, Sakura had never known Naruto to be this shy; he was nearly tripping over his own feet, trying to be absolutely perfect. It was almost enough for her to fall over in laughter. She never knew that Naruto didn't know how to slow dance. He was doing pretty well for a first timer.

"Err…. Sorry, I'm not a very good dancer." Naruto apologized shyly.

Sakura giggled. "Jeez Naruto, I never knew you could be shy."

Naruto looked up, surprise etched into his face, wide eyes. "How do you know my name-?

"Don't tell me you didn't notice." Sakura gave him a mock disappointed look. "It's me, Sakura."

Naruto looked at her wide-eyed. "Wow Sakura-chan! I didn't know your father was the guest of honor!"

"He's not." Sakura rolled her eyes. "I'm posing as his daughter at the moment."

"Oh….Oh! I get it now." Naruto smiled sheepishly. "I never would have guessed."

"Even Sasuke figured it out already Naruto." Sakura laughed.

"Well that's because Sasuke is irrevocably and unconditionally in love with you." Naruto pointed out blandly.

Sakura blushed hotly. "No he's not. And I thought that was supposed to be you in love with me."

"Yeah well," Naruto smiled sheepishly again. "That was until I met Hinata-chan."

"Oh." Sakura paused for a moment. "Wait what?! You and Hinata-chan??"

"Eh-heh." Naruto laughed. "Yep."

"That's pretty classic Naruto." She giggled.

"But enough small talk Sakura-chan." His face turned surprisingly serious. "You've got to find Sasuke before he starts sulking."

"Sulking?"

"Well yeah, he's been going on and on all day! You know, with all these fan girls around, I suppose it is hard to stop brooding…poor Sasuke-teme, all these annoying girls…no one to talk to…"

"Okay you win!" Sakura frowned as Naruto smiled in triumph. "I'll go find him."

And she whisked away, leaving a laughing Naruto.

--

The street lamps were dimmed, and there was the faint cackle of fireworks in the foreground of a starry sky. The side walk was quiet, with the dimmed voices of thousands of people gathered in the town square, dancing and having a lot of fun. As much as she wanted to be there too, ruffling up Ino in her disguise, she had a boy to find, and a mission that made butterflies fly in her stomach. She just hoped she could go through with this, she didn't know what to say or do.

She blamed the entirety of her situation on Naruto.

Not that said blond wasn't doing the right thing, because Sasuke was his best friend, as much as the brooding raven didn't want to say it, he was. So of course he'd make Sakura go and find him, even though he had to be the worst matchmaker the world has ever seen. At least he was trying with Hinata; Sakura couldn't say the same for herself. She just didn't think she had the courage.

She saw another street lamp, as she idly wondered where she was, until she saw a figure leaning against it, eyes closed as the dim light over shadowed him.

She felt the butterflies double. "Sasuke-kun?"

He blinked his eyes open, as he remembered the voice from earlier that day, when it was just a slight wisp in his ear.

"Sakura?"

"Err….Naruto sent me…" She struggled for words. "he said you were brooding or something, but you know, that's Naruto for you. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you about me kind of double-playing as Haruka, I didn't plan on it or anything, but it just happened so suddenly I didn't have time to tell or-

"You cute when you ramble." Sasuke smirked, pushing himself off from leaning against the lamp. (got that from HRomantics ch. 14)

"I-what?" She cut herself off, blushing red. "Well I-

He leaned in closer.

"Arigatou, Sakura."

And their lips just met.

--

An old; and wise man laughed to himself, amongst all the chatter and dancing. "I really must thank the girl, for all her trouble. She went out of her way just to help an old man like me."

-Omake-


	8. R

_I updated!_ _Although I'm not sure about the Chuunin Exams, I hate them sooo much! They are troublesome, and I don't feel like doing them. But they have a huge referance.

* * *

_

"Sakura you look great." Ino harped. "There is no point in fretting like this!"

Sakura shot the Pig a glare. "Ino, I don't see the reason in dressing me up like this and putting my hair up, it's going to come out!"

The pig in question gave another well-sculpted look at Sakura. With her hair up in a ponytail, the pink tresses shining nicely in the razing sun, one might mistake her for a princess. And according to the Pig, her skirt (which barely covered anything) looked better now that the Pig had shortened it.

"C-can I atleast put some shorts under?!" Sakura wailed, lifting what little of the skirt up to reveal pale thighs.

Ino snorted. "Yes, but they have to be short shorts, not long shorts."

"That doesn't make any sense." TenTen commented from her spot on the beach chair on the roof.

"I don't care if it makes sense!" Ino glared. "Kunoichi have the right to dress minimally without being tramp-ish! We should flaunt that!"

Hinata gave a conservative look at herself. "I don't."

"That's just you Hinata." Ino reasoned irratibly, and she turned back to Sakura. "Now, lets work on the shirt."

"Ino!!" Sakura whined in vain, as Ino had already cut the cloth in half.

With another sip of whatever drink TenTen had brought, the weapon mistress turned her head slightly to her argueing comrades. "Oh Sakura, everyone knows that Ino won't quit, so just bare with us."

And as if Sakura was all too willing to give up, the said pink-haired kunoichi flopped into a heap and let Ino (with little joy) snip away at the ends of her now kunoich shirt. But the young girl couldn't help but think, why did the Pig's timing have to be now? Sakura had only a few days to study all she could until the Chuunin Journeymen Exams, and she knew she shouldn't be relaxing at the roof instead. The pink-haired kunoichi knew all too well that Sasuke would be dissapointed if her preformance wasn't perfect.

But still, the make over Ino had given her, all the make up, and hair products; were really starting to shine through. Sasuke had been paying more attention to her, and low and behold, hadn't called her a name yet, or reclined her date offers. But then again, Sakura hadn't said a word to her team mates ever since Ino told them to ignore them, and she hadnt asked Sasuke out either, giving him no room for refusal.

Everything was turning complicated.

Now that the Chuunin Exams were coming litteraly around the corner, Sakura needed to improve her self-taught medical skills. Sure, she could heal cuts, gashes, bruises, and even a little chakra replenishing, she was yet to do anything with the bones. Surely if she tried, she could mend broken bones, but all the practice with bones was just reading, and she didn't have anyone to practice on. Then again, there aren't many people who are willing to give a bone for a studying medic practice.

"Oi! Sakura, you can stop daydreaming now!"

Sakura looked up, her lethargy evaporating immediately to reveal Ino's blue eyes. "You're done?" She mumbled.

Ino grinned. "Yep! Look in the mirror!" And she held out a small pocket mirror.

Without a second thought, Sakura held the mirror, studying her reflection carefully.

Her hair looked fuller, and it didn;t need to be blow-dried as often. The split ends were gone and the pink shine wasn't as dulled as it was before. Her eyes stood out more when Ino used all the make-up, and her lips looked plump. And now, her shirt looked like the top of a bathing suit, although fairly conservative. And her skirt was cut short, but it was still long enough to be considered decent.

"Oh." Sakura gasped softly at her new figure.

Ino gave a prideful look. "The make-over is completed!"

"Now can we get on with our lives?" TenTen sighed, as if in misery.

Ino shot the weapon mistress a glare. "No one asked you! I spent long hard work on this new outfit for Forehead!"

Although TenTen paid no mind at Ino's outburst, and opted to close her eyes and take another sip of her drink. Hinata gave a look at her arms, and then put more suntan lotion on as Ino continued to yell at an oblivious TenTen.

Sakura shook her head. "So you guys all know about the Exams tomorrow right?"

"Of course!" TenTen piped up. "Gai-sensei has been harping on us for the past month!"

"Kurenai-sensei too." Hinata chimed.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Let's not even go to Asuma-sensei!" She muttered sarcastically.

"Well," Sakura put thoughtfull effort into the word. "Won't we be pit against eachother?"

TenTen nodded. "Although I doubt that we'll be forced to fight to the death."

"But still, fighting against you guys? I don't want to..." Hinata trailed off sadly.

The uneasy silence between the four was deathly enough to hear a conversation of a male couple down on the streets below. The four silent girls promptly turned their heads in the direction. Ino even went so far as to lean over the railing to get a better look. TenTen too got up from her chair to softly peer over the edge. And so did Hinata and Sakura eventually, until all four of the girls were leaning over for a better more requainted look.

And what they saw made them nearly topple over the edge. There, far below on the busy city streets were the extremely anti-social Hyuga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke, lets not forget that the two are also rivals for life. Now why the two were talking, and didn't seem to be in an arguemental debait, is more of the question. Yet still, Sasuke adorned what seemed to be a light grin, not to be confused with a smile, and Neji seemed to be smirking cockily, arms folded.

What would get these two even remotely happy on this sunny day?

The thought of fighting eachother in the Chuunin Exams of course.

The girls gave a round of collective sighs. Although it wasn't everyday that one saw the pair merrily (overstatement) walking down the street, with no kunai's held down eachother's throat, could only bring the Chuunin Exams as an outcome. But no matter how confident the two boys seemed, the girls had quite the upper advantage.

Now it wasn't said, but apparently, Ino's mom's dentist was at a bar, and the Hokage's assistant was right next to him. And now, because of a drunken Hokage's assistant, Ino knew what would happen during the Chuunin Exams. The first was a written assignment, in which TenTen and Ino groaned loudly, and then a survival test that has something to do with Earth and Heaven and scrolls. The last is a tournament of sorts, and then it is done. Needless to say TenTen was happy about the last one.

The four had decided train with eachother to be well prepared for all three portions of the Exam. Sakura trained fighting wih TenTen, and helped her with her studies. Ino and Hinata worked together, and actually made quite a pair. And in the time, it turned that the four like doing tag-team fighting, although it was compltelely uneccessary, and more for fun than for actual practicing.

"Mm... What time is it Ino?" Sakura yawned lazily.

Hinata gave a dreamy look at the horizon. "I hope it's not too late."

Ino looked at her watch. "Uh, 7:15."

"What?!" The other three gasped in unison.

Ino gave them undignified looks as if to say, "What? Never pulled an all-nighter?"

"I need to study!"

"I need rest!"

"My father is going to kill me!"

And by the time a flusterred Ino had any time to blink, the other three had packed their stuff and whisked down the stairs, only Hinata slightly bowing before rushing down the stairway. Ino looked peeved as she jammed her belongings into her blaring orange beach bag. She shot an apprehensive look at the stair case where her friends had ran off to ditch her, before she too dashed down the stairs.

* * *

"So Sasuke-teme, are you hyped for the Chuunin Exams?" 

"Hn."

"Me too! I can't wait!"

"Hn."

"I want to face that Gaara guy."

Sasuke's impassive face darkened. "So do I."

Naruto grinned. "And Neji too! They seem like really tough opponents!"

"He's an anti-social moron." Came another bored voice.

Sasuke's eyes widened enormously at the new voice. He hadn't even sensed another presence on the red bridge. Naruto either. The voice wasn't Kakashi's, and sounded slightly familiar. Sasuke was amazed at how well the shinobi was at hiding themselves. And the comment about Neji almost made it seem like the person was so much more stronger than them. Sasuke wasn't the only one shocked, Naruto too hadn't realized the other presence either.

The two boys turned their heads swiftly to take a look at the skilled shinobi... or what should be said...kunoichi.

"S-Sakura-chan?!?!"

"Sakura?"

Both Sasuke and Naruto were impressed with Sakura's hiding abilities. She was able to sneak up on them without even being detected. She was shaping up to be quite a skilled kunoichi.

"Hey guys." She greeted, grinning widely at their shocked faces.

Sasuke gave a light smirk at her, impressed at how good she was getting. Naruto seemed ectastic at her.

"Wow Sakura-chan! I didn't even sense you!" Naruto gawked.

Sakura gave a laugh. "That's just you Naruto-chan." She teased, but she really didn't meant it as an insult.

"Hey..." He whined.

Poof.

"Hello young gennins!"

Sakura whirled. "You're late again Kakashi-sensei!"

"Yeah Kakashi-sensei!"

"Hn."

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I got lost on the road of life..."

"Save it for someone who cares Kakashi-sensei." Sakura snapped coldly.

"Why Sakura-chan, you're so cruel." Kakashi whined in vain, Sakura's cold aura reaching him. "Aww Sakura-chan, I remember a time when you used to respect me."

Sakura nodded. "Yes, the few seconds between when I heard your name and when you fell for Naruto's trap." She reminded him.

Naruto howled with laughter and Sasuke stifle a snigger.

Kakashi gave an impish smile. "For that comment, you get to spar with Sasuke."

"What?!"

"What?!"

"Hn?!"

The three students' jaws dropped to the floor. Sasuke was quite afraid of what explicit and sexual theme him and Sakura would accidentaly find themselves in this time. Hopefully, there wouldn't be a remake of the last spar. And as Sasuke stole a glance at the pink-haired kunouchi, he was fairly sure that the skirt was significantly higher, and it didn't look like there was any shorts under...

Sasuke mentally groaned.

Meanwhile, Sakura was starting to really regret the comments she made earlier to Kakashi. She really hadn't expected for him to take her comment so seriously, but like they say, paybacks a bitch. That bitch just happened to be Kakashi today. If anything happened this time, Sakura was going to blame Ino. She was the one who refused Sakura to where shorts, and the only thing standing between whatever position her and Sasuke would be in was pink frilly panties.

Pink frilly panties, that had her tapered Uchiha Cloth stitched onto it.

Sakura mentally groaned.

Also, Naruto was having a mental breakdown. Although his crush for Sakura wasn't as strong as it was, he wasn't as stupid in teh sexual nature as one claimed he was. he had read the seventh volume fo Icha Icha, and he kenw what sex was. And he also knew that the position Sasuke and Sakura were in last time was very sexual. And he was fairly sure that Sasuke was taking advantage of Sakura.

"But Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto protested. "Sasuke-teme is gonna take advantage of Sakura-chan and have sex with her!"

"What?!?!"

"You dobe!!!"

And maybe Naruto needs to brush up on his sexual vocab.

Kakashi slapped his head. "Naruto, that's completely the wrong word."

"Naruto!! You retarded fool!" Sakura wailed, blushing many shades of red.

Sasuke looked away, blushing furiously. "You dobe!" He muttered.

Kakashi shook his head. "Now all of you," He declared. "Off the sex topic, lets start sparring."

Sasuke and Sakura grudgingly went into the clearing of foliage, resigned to their fate, much like Neji would say. The two knew all to well that one of them was going to be in a very, very wrong position. It was inevitable, especially when inner-Sakura was released, that girl would do anything to win, like demonstrated in last time's spar.

As it started, Sasuke tried his best to avoid any contact with Sakura, opting to throw kunai and shuriken throwing stars instead of hand-to-hand combat. Because if he tried to hit her, he might just accidentaly grab her breast... The thought was tempting to try. Sasuke shook his head, he shouldn't think like that, it was terrible! He was starting to sound like that pervert Jiraiya, the one who made Icha Icha.

But as the two danced around throwing weapons at eachother, Sasuke's mind wandered.

The girl, Mamiko, who was she? And why did her soothing voice sound so familiar? He had to say, he was beginning to become infatuated witht he mysterious girl. He knew nothing about her, not even the slightest detail. Although he was really trying to find a clue at her identity.

Without realizing it, all the kunai he had aimed at Sakura went to a shadow clone, a familiar poof rang in his ears as Sakura turned into a log. his eyes widened in realization as he scanned the area.

"Up here Sasuke-kun!"

He looked up, the sun in his eyes, and he hadn't seen the kunai raining down on him.

The next thing he knew, their was a pain in his leg, and his mind left Mamiko.

"Sasuke-kun! Are you okay?!"

He had just realized that there was a kunai deeply embeded in his leg, probably cutting through muscle, skin, and maybe even some sort of tendant. he wasn't a medic-nin, but he kenw that it could have severely damaged his leg. What he wanted to know, is when Sakura got so good at this, he wouldn't be able to stand if they were in a real battle.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Sasuke-kun." He heard Sakura apologize softly in his ear, and his mind went hazy, thoughts on Mamiko.

She put him down near a tree, Kakashi definetely not helping, and hadn't even looked up from his book, Naruto peeing in a bush. She had already taken out the kunai, and was beginning to heal the wound. First, she mended the torn musclce, easily, and then closed the wound carefully. She inspected it, before kneeling on him, the pain gone from him.

He stared at her in amazement. "When did you learn that?" he muttered disbelievingly.

She grinned. "Oh, I've been practicing."

He smiled genuinely. "Your getting better." He complimented.

Yes, it was Sasuke Uchiha's very first compliment, EVER. And it was directed to Sakura. At this point, Sakura's mind drifted to heaven. She was in bliss, happy about her very first nice remark from Sasuke Uchiha.

She was too deep in bliss to realise the situation she was in.

She was leaning against Sasuke, her legs straddling his hips. Sadly this time, there were no protective shorts, only a skirt that was hitched up, and her pink underwear. She hadn't even noticed yet, and Ino's sewing on her shirt had made a plunging neckline. Her legs were tangled in the grass, her hands still on Sasuke's thigh, dangerously close to his arousal. Her skirt was bunched and hanging loosely on her thigh.

Sasuke inwardly gulped, Sakura looked like she was dreaming, and had a dazed look on her face, and woudln't move. He himself was scanning her top to bottom, not to bad, he said so himself. her breasts weren't that big, but everyone looks underdevoloped in the face of Ino. She had nice creamy thighs, he remarked, and had a nice choice of underwear.

Wait... underwear... was that the Uchiha insignia on her underwear?

He caught a glimpse of it, what looked to be the Uchiha Fan stitched onto her underwear, before the folds of her skirt covered it up as she shifted on his legs. He hadn't realized that healing was such a sexual expierience. Especially when, in her rush, Sakura had pushed up a little of his shirt, and he was fairly sure that his boxers were fairly visible, but she didn't seem to notice.

"I leave you two alone for a few minutes..." Kakashi growled.

Sakura and Sasuke looked up panicked.

"K-Kakashi-sensei!" Both of them stuttered, before Sakura flung herself off of Sasuke, and Sasuke got up reluctantly.

Naruto looked shocked. "What did I tell you Kakashi-sensei!!!"

* * *

"Oh my god Sakrua! That had to be so awesome! You and Sasuke!" Ino wailed, her fantasies playing in her mind. 

Sakura scowled, her head in a medic book. "Ino, Kakashi-sensei saw me, _straddling _Sasuke!" The kunoichi reminded her friend.

"Yeah but, if me and Neji were in that postion, I would have taken advantage of that, screw Kakashi-sensei, just do it there." TenTen reasoned bluntly.

"TenTen!" Hinata hissed at the other girl.

"What?" TenTen shrugged. "We're kunoichi, we get what we want when we can get it, because we don't know when we'll die."

"Did you get that from the Ninja Guidebook?" Sakura questioned boredly.

"How'd you know?" TenTen smirked, eyes closed.

"All of you." Hinata huffed.

Ino sighed. "I think I'm finally getting somewhere with Shikamaru."

"Amazing!" Sakrua commented sarcastically.

"It's true though," Ino drawled. "We've been having these really indepth conversations, and I actually understand them. Like, these interesting scientific theories, he is such a genius! Though lazy mind you-

"Ino, you sound like a nerd." Sakura interupted.

"Well soorry I'm enjoying my life Miss Emo!" Ino huffed.

"Miss Emo?!" Sakura repeated. "Oh come on! I am not emo! It's just that I am completely emberassed about what Kakashi said!"

"There's nothing wrong with being emo Ino." TenTen reminded.

"Well, what about you TenTen, you seem ectremely peppy today." Sakura rolled over lazily on her chair to face TenTen, the girl in question had her eyes closed, and was sipping lemonade.

"Neji asked me out." She said boredly.

"What?!"

"What?!"

"N-Neji-nii-san?!?!"

The other three kunochi promptly sprang from their seats to huddle near TenTen, who still had her eyes clsoed. Sakrua looked interested, Hinata was blushing, and Ino was practically drooling.

"When?"

"How?"

"Why?"

"Where?"

"Neji? Really?"

TenTen laughed. "Woah, slow down, one at a time. When... uh, today. How... well, you know Neji, he was pretty blunt about the entire thing. I don't know why he asked me, but he said he likes me. And it was right after practice today. And yes, we are talking about ice-prince Neji."

Ino gaped. "Well what did you say?" She asked.

TenTen looked afronted. "I said 'yes' of course! This is Neji we're talking about."

"Why can't Sasuke do that?" Sakura sighed.

"I-I'll wait until Naruto is ready for something like that." Hinata smiled shyly.

"I don't think Sasuke will ever do that." Sakura sighed miserably.

Although unknown to Sakura, she had awoken another side of Sasuke, the one filled with love and compassion. His knew awakened feelings for Sakura, and for this new girl Mamiko (who technically is the same person) might just be enough to keep him away from his revenge. But too bad Sakura doesn't know that, and is still trying to better herself for the young Uchiha boy.

* * *

_It's a bit shorter than my other chapters, but that's because I have exams, which I hate terribly. TBC review!_


	9. O

_It's settled, no Chuunin Exams! My Shikamaru instincts tell me that it will be just too troublesome to add. Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor the journal entries.

* * *

_

BEEP! BEEP!

It was at this point that Sakura hauled herself out of her bed, which was actually beginning to get comfortable, to flop onto the floor with a groan. The light poured from her tattered blind-shades the window open, and she heard an arrogant 'meow' from the other side of the door from her hungry cat. Why the hell did she get a cat again? She forgot now. The thing was getting, as Shikamaru would say, "much too troublesome to deal with".

"Stupid cat." She mumbled, and her hand fumbled around on her nightstand to turn off her alarm.

BEEP! BEEP!

"Argh!" Sakura's patience was dissipating quickly, and she continusouly fumbled with the alarm.

The cat was meowing indignantly, intent on getting its owner to come out and feed it, or maybe it wanted to just annoy her for the sake of annoying her. Right now, the alarm was doing just that; annoying her. She even heard a, 'shut the hell up!' from Ino on the other side of the wall, probably pissed at her for waking her up at the ungodly hour of four in the morning.

Usually, Sakura would quickly plant her finger on the shiny red button that turned her alarm on, but she had accidently fallen over from her bed, and was too lazy to actually stand up to look for the button. From one last meow from her cat, and now TenTen yelling at Sakura for her alarm, since the walls weren't sound proof. Cheap apartment, and Sakura finally lost all her patience.

"Stupid alarm!" Sakura growled, and took the alarm, and chucked it out the window.

A loud smash was heard, and a ferrel cry of, "What the fuck was that?!" was heard from the trash man from below. Sakura had lost all her patience, and opted for, instead of being civilized and looking for the red button, chucked the thing out the window, the uncivilized thing to do in this situation.

"Oh shit." Sakura had just realized the extent of her actions.

The pink-haired girl gave a sigh and looked at her expectant cat. "Well, at least I have you, you'll always wake me up at four."

But Sakura knew, her cat wasn't that reliable.

* * *

Ever since their incident just merely a day ago, Sakura found it best to balantly avoid Sasuke, much to embarassed to even comprehend how to apologize to him. But why should she apologize? Sasuke was the one who was looking her up, she wasn't stupid, she knew very well that Sasuke liked what he saw. The question was, would the Uchiha boy stop being an ice-cube for it, or just become even more of a frozen heart. 

That was a question meant for another day, a day when Sakura didn't have a massive headadche.

For a doctor in training, Sakura really wasn't being very smart. Ino had smartly told her to get some rest, her sleeping pattern making her feel like an insomniac. She hadn't gotten any sleep at all the entire week, and truthfully, she had slipped into unconsciousness at training and nearly fell off the Red Bridge. If it weren't for Sasuke, who was her hero and caught her before she hit the water.

But still, after staying up until two, and then waking up at four, she had only allowed herself two hours of sleep. Her body was really taking a toll, and she had a feeling it was about to pay up. All she could see was splotches, but she knew she had to go to training, staying up the whole morning from four, until it was already one in the afternoon.

Time for training with Kakashi-sensei.

She woozily walked over to the training grounds, Naruto immediately baffled by her state.

"Sakura-chan! My god! What happened!" Naruto quickly rushed to her side, ushering her to lean against the red bridge. She watched him dreamily with hald-lidded eyes.

She hadn't even realized she hand't changed out of her usual short and tank top for pajamas, although she did look like a ninja because she had her kunai holster on, and cuts and bruises, courtsey of TenTen.

"What?" She said dreamily. "Nothing happened, I was just training."

Naruto gawked. "Training!? You call this training?! I'd call it suicide!"

Sakura gave him a half-lidded stare. "Oh Naruto-chan, I was just practicing with TenTen and..." She couldn't finish her sentence.

"Sakura," Sasuke's voice caught her attention. "what time did you sleep last night?"

She probably should have lied, but her head wasn't working because of her fever. "Oh I dunno, maybe two?" She looked like she wasn't paying much attention.

Sasuke raised a delicate brow. "And what time did you wake up?"

"Ehhh..." Sakura sighed. "Mmm... four?"

"F-four?! Are you crazy?!" Sasuke sputtered. "You're going to kill yourself."

"I'm not going to kill myself." She said feverishly. "I'm going to be a medic-nin."

Sasuke tried to give her a glare, like a warning of not to push him, but he seemed to really care for her, his eyes softening as she fought for consciousness.

"Sakura-chan! You shouldn't over work yourself!" Naruto pleaded.

"What? You guys do it all the time." She reasoned.

"Well yeah," Naruto drawled. "But that's different..." he fought for the right words.

Sakura, eyes closed, frowned sleepily. "If you say that its different because you two are stronger, I'll send you flying into Hokage Monument." She growled.

"And I don't doubt you would."

The knew voice, belonging to their sensei hanging upside down with his face pressed to the book startled all three, Sakura the only one without shock evident on her face, because she was too feverish to.

"But however, you're much to feverish to be able to train Sakura-chan." Kakashi sighed, very father-like.

Sakura opened her eyes a crack in determintation. "Nuh-uh, therre's no way I'm gonna-

She couldn't finish her sentence because she had fainted Hinata style (backwards) into Sasuke's arms.

"Ah Sasuke." Kakashi told him. "You mind taking her? She seems to have fainted on you."

"Wha? No I-

"Ah! That's great! Well, make sure she gets better!"

Kakashi wouldn't take no for an answer. He quickly flipped down, took Naruto's arm, and poofed away, leaving a rather peeved Sasuke and a knocked out Sakura behind.

"That damned Kakashi." Sasuke growled in vain.

---

Meanwhile, rather far away on the other side of Konoha, a much more friendlier interaction was taking place. Friendly, but defintely very, very akward. But thats what one gets, when you crush on Hyuga Neji. The said Hyuga is very blunt, and doesn't know how to start a conversation. Much less a conversation with a date.

Becuase Hyuga Neji was never good with girls or dates.

Sadly for the Hyuga, he wasn't on an ordinary date, it was a date in the most beautiful part of Konoha, with the most beautiful girl he had ever seen; TenTen.

Said girl was walking next to him, and in amazement, was in a white dress, and her hair was down. The wind played with her brown locks, her dress swaying ever so slightly as they walked in silence.

The silence was broken when TenTen suddenly gasped. "Its a jasmine blossom!"

She immediately bent down next to the path and plucked the blossom off its stem. "They're my favorite..." She whispered, almost inaudibly as she smelt it.

But with Neji, everything can be heard, and he heard it. And if there was one thing Neji hobbied, it was garderning. "Their great for rooms, they never lose their smell-" He seemed to notice he was babbling because his eyes widened in realization and he blushed.

"Oh, do you like gardening?" TenTen asked innocently, as if she _hadn't _been spying on him when he was gardening.

It seems gardening was one of those deep dark secrets of Neji Hyuga, because he was blushing pretty hard. "Uh... y-yeah." He sputtered, quietly.

"Oh!" TenTen smiled. "Me too!"

When TenTen agreed, she hadn't realized the extent of her actions. Hyuga Neji was a gardening fanatic, and as strange as that sounded, it was true. Last year's best Gennin was now going to be known as Konoha 's number one gardener. The moment she uttered those three words, she saw a true smile, a true glimpse of the true Hyuga Neji. Him, and his babbling of gardening that is.

Once on a role, Hyuga Neji can be quite a babbler. TenTen was fairly sure she heard him recite the entirety of the book Hinata gave her in gardening in just a mere five minutes. He seemed really into it, his actually using his hands to discribe some of his favorite flowers. And his face, she had never seen him smile so widely, like he had just been waiting for someone to tell all about it.

So TenTen sat, and listened, as her 'boyfriend' babbled on about gardening, speaking more than he had ever before. And she didn't have the heart to stop him, he seemed so content, with the wind playing with his hair, talking about the many, many, MANY, vast knowlodges of gardening he knew.

He suddenly sighed embarassed. "I'm sorry if I'm boring you with my babbling... I..."

TenTen hadn't realized just how self-conscious Neji could be.

"Neji, it's fine, I like your babbling." TenTen smiled. "It's cute."

"Cute? How do me and cute fit in the same sentence?" Neji asked, bewildered.

TenTen giggled. "Oh well, its very simple-

"ITAI!!!!"

The lovestruck couple promptly looked up from their flower to see the commotion on the other side of the river bank. The forest, was supposedly a great romantic spot for people on a date, because of its natural state with birds chirping, and flowers growing. Apparently no one thought that Yamanaka Ino would ever set foot in the forest. With her loud mouth, it would be impressive if the canopy of foliage stayed intact after her visit.

"What did I tell you? Thorns hurt." They heard a lazy voice retort.

"I know that! I didn't see them though!" A voice, which was clearly Ino's came.

TenTen and Neji sighed in unison. "Those two..."

Ino apparently just realized TenTen and Neji were there as well. "Hey guys! Didn't know you two were here also!" She took a moment to wiggle her eyebrows. "On a date?"

Neji and TenTen both blushed shades of red, and looked in opposite directions, clearly avoiding the entire subject. Ino began to fall down into fits of laughter, as if she had a gut feeling that something like this would happen.

"What about you?" TenTen growled. "I'm sure your enjoying your time with Shikamaru!"

Ino gave a lazy look at her partner. "We're picking flowers for the shop." She retorted hotly.

"You're lying." Neji said, blantly. All thanks to his Byakugan.

"Uh..." Apparently Ino couldn't think of any retorts, so she opted for a, _"so?"_

TenTen howled in laughter as it was the other couples turn to blush.

--

"Damn you Kakashi."

That was around the fifteenth time the young Uchiha had cursed his mentor. Sadly for him, the teacher in question was enjoying a lovely afternoon in the shade of a tree, reading his prized Icha Icha books. Even as the Uchiha prodigy had to carry his fainted teammate to where ever the hell the hospital was, or better, where her house was.

Unfortunately for the Uchiha, he did not know where her house was.

And going to the hospital meant going through town with affronted stares at him, and the other option was seeming better. Now the only thing was... where was her house exactly? Sure, he knew that she lived in the apartment building directly opposite from Neji's, and Ino's was the one with lavender curtains. But where was hers?

Rifling through his memories, he remotely remembered her telling him and Naruto that she hated how Ino made so much noise, and that she was the worst neighbor ever.

Which had to mean the two were right next to eachother. Right? He looked up reluctantly to see the painstakingly tacky lavender curtains, that were supposedly Ino's. Neji, who has been spying on TenTen for the last week, said that hers was the one with the neon lamp on the window sill. And then there was the apartment in the middle of the two. The one that looked bland and gloomy.

The one that was Sakura's.

Judging from the height of the tall building, she was maybe on the fifth or sixth floor. Even with his sharingan, he couldn't tell. But he knew this much, he could definetely scale the builing, the sixth floor not even around sixty or so feet.

With a jump of chakra in his feet, he leaped onto her open window.

"Hm..." He mumbled, taking in his surroundings.

It looked to be a normal room, definetely not as bland as his, and there weren't, "Kill Itachi" posters plastered onto the walls. Infact, the walls were a pastel pink, probably to contrast with her pink bed sheets, and pink vanity. The only thing that actually wasn't a shade of pink in her room, was the fat ass cat that had sprawled itself on her duvet, looking like a dash of lazy gray amist the pink.

Well, the gray cat, and the many half-torn books littering her floor.

Upon closer look, after he had gently placed the kunoichi on her bed, next to her cat, they were medical books. Large, oversized medical books that probably were difficult to read. When they said she was a bookworm, they weren't kidding. And even those rumors, that the Haruno girl who was a fragile as a stick, lifted the boulder that clogged the enterance way to the Hokage Monument, he hadn't believed those. Until he saw her lift a boulder in action of course.

Maybe she wasn't the weak and pathetic girl he thought she was.

When Shikamaru had forced him into acting like a girl, he had caught a glimpse of what seemed to be her living room, as he was placed on the couch there. He had never actually set foot in her bedroom, until now that was. The pink-haired maiden in question was sighing softly, in content, as she curled up next to her cat on her bed, Sasuke sparing her innocent sleeping form a slight glance. A glance that turned into a full out stare.

Sasuke just realized how _little _she was wearing that day.

The large tank top's straps slipped off her shoulders, giving him the full look of her clevadge under it. The shirt was hitched up, and her shorts were too short to cover her stomach, and he could see the faint glimpse of pink underwear under her shorts. He could feel the blood rush to his face as she turned over, to throw her arms over her head.

He had to remotely wonder if she was awake and doing this to torture him...

He shook his head at the thought. Sakura was definetely passed out, her breathing even in paces, and he didn't need to be a medic to tell that she was absolutely exhausted.

It was then that he spotted the blotchy red book on her nightstand. He could see tear stains covering it, and other splotches of undeciphered drinks and food that had been spilt on it that explained that it was too old.

He didn't know why he did it, and he knew there was hell to pay when she woke up, but he did anyways. There was a rush of adreniline that flowed through him as he traced the outline of the cover with his finger. Her diary. He could only wonder what was on the first page. He really didn't know much about Sakura, she never talked about her homelife, the only reason she would open her mouth was to scold Naruto or simply ask him on a date.

He had no idea who Haruno Sakura really was. And this diary would be the perfect way to learn more about her. So, without thinking of the consequences, he opened the diary.

_First Entry: _

_He was tall, exotic, and intense. He had the best body I had ever seen. He was aloof and mysterious and one moment, and disarmingly natural the next. He was selfish, he was vain, and never once put anything back where he found it._

_He stayed out all night but he never lied to me. We had, what they say, an understanding._

_But out affair was not without its obstacles. The first of course, was the difference in our ages. On the day we met, I had just had my sixth birthday and he was a wide-eyed month-old. And we had a bit of a problem with size, for fully grown he stood scarcely two-feet high when on his tippy-toes. But he was so smart and funny, so affectionate and sweet, so magnificent and original, that I have secretely looked for him in the soul of every man I have met since._

_This was Yuuki, and he was my first-_

"What the hell are you doing!?!"

Sasuke abruptly dropped the diary, knowing he was caught red handed. He couldn't think of an intelligent excuse. "Uh..." Was the only thing he could manage, and Sakura didn't take that as an answer.

"What are you blind?!? Do you not see the words,_ "Do Not Read" _on the front?!?" Sakura growled, all evidence of unstable health condition vanished. "What the hell is wrong with you?!?"

Sasuke didn't know how to answer, but he too, was quite mad. And she had said, and had told everyone, looking them straight in the eye that she loved him. And then, in her proffesions in her diary, she said she loved the midget of a man named Yuuki. What the hell, he should be shouting at her!! Though he had no idea why he was so mad, seriously, he was the one who rejected her, shoulnd't she have happiness if he was just going to reject her?

Although that was the logical thing to think, Sasuke didn't. He felt his blood boil. Sakura should be in love with _him_. No one else. Just him. And he had no idea why he was thinking so illogicaly. He really didn't know why, but he felt something coil and tighten in the pit of his stomach, like... jealousy. An emotion that he didn't know why it would resurface now. A jealousy almost as strong as his hatred for his brother, now against this Yuuki guy.

"Have you been listening to a word I've been saying?!" Sakura screeched, knocking him out of his thought process.

Sasuke's fists trembled at his side, anger boiling, and before he could think about the stupidness of his actions, he blurted. "Yeah well, who the hell is Yuuki?!"

At this point, the cat looked up lazily from its spot on the ruffled duvet from the commotion.

Sakura immediately sobered up, her anger subsiding as quickly as it came. She gave a sigh, and Sasuke's jealousy only burned more because he knew it was a sigh of defeat. So she was in love with someone else.

"You know," She drawled. "I haven't written in that thing since I was eleven. I almost forgot, but now, you made me remember." She smiled softly.

"Sasuke-kun." He looked up from the floor when she called his name. She gently picked up the fallen book from the floor, the pages flipping around. She opened it to the first page, the one he was reading.

"Finish it." She urged him, and he grabbed the book out of her hands.

He skimmed the page until he got to where he left off.

_This was Yuuki, and he was my first cat._

He felt his utter anger dissapaite to utter diesbelief. He couldn't believe how foolish he was acting, all because of some cat? Had he just stayed calm, the entire ordeal could have been spared from him, but, he chose to be an idiot, and not thinking properly, mind clouded with jealousy and rage. He didn't see that maybe, since the discription of Yuuki was two-feet high, that maybe, it was the lazy cat he saw rolled in her bed.

"I remembered why I got you, Yuuki-kun." Sakura smiled, brightly.

And almost inaudibly, as she buried her face into the cat's fur, she sighed in content. "You reminded me so much of Sasuke-kun." She told her cat, and a small smile touched Sasuke's lips.

Maybe he had no reason to be jealous of the stupid furball after all.

* * *

_That was rather wierd, but I got the idea from this cat book I was reading. My cat is alot like Yuuki (o.o) fat and stupid, but I love him anyways. And I though Sakura would be more of a cat person, I have no idea why though. Sorry if its like Sasuke is acting OOC, I didn't mean for it to come out that way.TBC_


	10. M

_I have a lime alert here. Yes, the moment of truth has arrived._

_

* * *

_It was again at two in the morning that Sakura woke up from her peaceful slumber. The pink-haired kunoichi was currently unhappy about her situation, but there was only so much slacking off a ninja could do. Sakura wasn't a normal citizen-by any means- she was a ninja. And being a ninja meant waking up at an ungodly hour to train. 

It was times like these that Sakura didn't remember why the hell she ever wanted to be a kunoichi.

Perhaps it was because she wanted to be stronger for Sasuke, seeing as though he was levels beyond levels stronger than her. And she didn't want to be teased by her peers forever, destined to a cruel fate of bullied by other kids. And Sasuke, he looked so cool when she was younger, like he was on a level beyond the rest of the kids. Which he was. Much too powerful compared to her.

Sasuke had the same affect to her as Shikamaru did with Ino. Although Ino and Shikamaru had quite a better relationship then Sakura and Sasuke. Like Neji and TenTen, the two were getting along very well, and Sakura was starting to feel left out of the romantic ring. Even Hinata and Naruto were getting somewhere, if one could call Ichiraku somewhere.

But her and Sasuke? She may have made progress with him, but it wasn't enough to be called anything.

Speaking of the Uchiha...

As if speaking of the devil, Sakura entered her usual training ground. Rain was splattering around her, a low mist hanging around the dew-touched grass. The moon was still up, and the wispy ghosts of gray clouds covered the black sky like a blanket. _No one_ in their right mind would train here. Not even Sakura, if she had a choice in the matter. Which is why at this point she was questioning if Sasuke was really sane or not.

Because he was there, training by himself.

Sakura held back a gasp. She was aware that Sasuke was handsome, of course, you had to be blind not to notice. But a rain streaked Sasuke, shirtless, hair dripping, shorts hanging loosely. Well, that scene looked like it came out of her imagintation. The only difference was that Sasuke was intamitely kissing her in the shower, not throwing kunai at a wooden pole.

But the differences could pass. He still looked godly, whether lip-locked with her in her fantasies or bleeding and wounded on a mission. Sasuke is Sasuke.

It was probably the fact that she was standing stark pink in the middle of a green forest that he saw her.

"Sakura." He looked over his shoulder to her.

If Sakura knew she would see him, in the rain, she would have worn a longer shirt, and brought more kunai. But the only thing she had on was a shirt and shorts, clutching a massive medical book in her hands.

"Good morning Sasuke-kun." She greeted, like most sane people would do, as if they _weren't _awake at two in the morning.

Sasuke snorted. "Sakura, its two in the morning. Hardly a good morning."

And although that was coming close to what Sasuke had ever said to her, she still frowned. "I guess..."

It didn't take as much brains as Sakura had to know that Sasuke was not one for conversation. In fact, one could say he hardly conversed at all. But it did sound like he was making some sort of an effort ot communicate with her. So she took it with a smile, and plopped herself down near a tree, and opened her book. Even though it was pouring rain.

She tried to keep her business to herself, and Sasuke's business to himself. He did stare at her incredously for a few short seconds, before returning to his training, the tack of kunai hitting wood ringing around the forest.

There was a page in her book, not very different from the other ones, aside from the fact that it called for example.

_Cut to perpendicular lines to reveal the blood clot, before rehealing the torn muscles._

Sakrua never, ever did examples, but for some odd reason, she couldn't understand how to do it. She chewed on her lips, rivets of water entering her mouth, as she pondered how to do this. Before she chickened out of her trail of thought, she grabbed two kunai from her holster.

Taking a deep breath, she slit an X line of the side of her leg.

She was fairly sure that it was enough to tear a few muscles, and with another look from her book, she began to heal herself. She was yet to notice Sasuke's toneless eyes watching her every movement.

"Sakura," He called out suddenly. "Would you like to spar?"

She looked up promptly, to see Sasuke, staring off into another direction, probably hiding his profuse emberassment. Typical. She gave a small smile, knowing that she had made some sort of indent on him, if he was asking her to spar with him. She must have some sort of strength if her wants to spar with her. Right?

"Uh, sure." She agreed, closing her book as she stood up.

She hadn't realized that the moment she said that he would immediately start throw multitudes of kunai at her. She wasn't exaclty the slowest kunoichi around, and was able to easily dodge most of his attacks. A few minor cuts here and there, but not enough damage to actually do much damage. Sasuke was probably just testinng her, not actually initialing anything more than a rough tussle.

"Katon Housenka no Jutsu!!!"

Or not.

While nimbly dancing around flames, Sakura had to wonder, was fire some sort of element Sasuke liked? Because it was raining like hell, and he was using fire techniques. Rather unusual, but, is Sasuke wants to play like that, then Sakura could only comply. She racked her brain for some sort of other fire jutsu that she knew of, she couldn't just use a sharingan to copy hand seals, seeing as though she doesn't have one.

"Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu!"

"Ack!"

Sakura was once again reduced to hopping around, flapping wildly like a duck trying to run away from the fire. From the way Sasuke had an amused twinkle in his Sharingan eye, she knew he was playing with her. He probably knew she didn't like fire at all much. He was effectively pissin gher off. How could he toy with her like that?! She had to think up a good plan to counter all these fire jutsus he was throwing at her.

_Sasuke has a Sharingan, and can see through your attacks._

_He can't see through your mind. He only thinks he can._

_Just allure him!_

_Kiss him, it works like a charm._

_Lick his ear! It drives them insane._

Sakrua could hear Ino and TenTen's voices in her head, echoing in her ears. That's it! She could somehow sneak up on him, and do something, (as much as she hated to admit) sexual. Drive him insane, a good tactic she mentally noted. It was just a matter of how to get at him when he was blowing fire in all sorts of different directions. Not to mention the steam from when the water washed the fire away. She thought for a moment, maybe if she used a kage bunshin... it might work.

Doing the selected hand seals, she ducked behind a tree before Sasuke saw her plan.

He fell for it, chasing after the bunshin instead of the real one, spurting fire wherever he went. It was a wonder he didn't get burns. She carefully, light-footedly crept behind him, and before he realized it, she had sprayed kunai at him. Succesfully tackling him to the ground.

She had once again, surprised Sasuke.

_Quite the unpredictable kunoichi isn't she? _Sasuke mused inwardly.

But, before Sakura could claim her victory, Sasuke flipped them over, so that he was on top.

It was then Sakura caught sight of blood dripping down his lip, and her fingers twitched to heal it. She didn't know why she wanted to, but it was a yearning to feel the softness of his lips. Before she could stop herself, she had touched his lips softly, entranced by their softness. She casually wiped her thumb across his bottom lip, pretending to wipe the blood.

He knew he should stop her... before it all spiralled out of control... but he didn't seem to have the willpower.

And now, even though he didn't know what on Earth he was doing, he had claimed her lips for his own.

Water splattered around them, the sky a misty gray as he trapped Sakura under him, the wet, slick grass underneath them. He suckled her bottom lip deliciously, until the point it started bruising. But she didn't mind, she was fairly sure she had shot up straight into heaven, becuase she wasn't thinking straight. She wrapped her arms around him, fisting his hair, as he continued his ministrations.

It was as if the two fit perfectly together, the angle of her curves fitting perfectly with his. She thought it should have been uncomfortable, having a man hover above you, kissing you passionately, but she fit so well, that it was cozy laying underneath him. That was, until she noticed some rather unusual occurence.

He had an erection.

Sakura's breath was caught in her throat, and her cheeks flushed, whether from the cold rain splattering on her cheeks, running down from Sasuke's strands of raven hair, or from the intimate position the two found them in. She shifted under him, the bulge resting easily inbetween her thighs. She felt exposed. And she liked it.

"You... want me..." She whispered, so only he could hear, eyes widening. Rain splattering around the two of them.

His face was smooth. "Does that scare you?"

He wasn't certainly denying that fact.

She didn't know how to respond to that, a flushed look on her face. "I..."

_I love it. _Inner Sakrua sneered incredously, speaking of the current situation.

Even though all rational thought had fled her mind, it was apparent that Sasuke was still thinking somewhat properly. He shifted, regaining balance and sitting upward in her lap, before fully standing up.

"You should go."

It made Sakura feel a tingle of sadness at the sudden urge of his to leave. He may deny it, but he surely did want her.

"You'll get sick." Seemed to be the pitiful excuse he could come up with.

She was painfully aware at the fleeing of the wonderful pleasure he had taken with him when he stood up a little, and it took alot of willpopwer to not protest and drag him back into another sensual kiss.

Sasuke seemed to notice her distress.

"Sakura..." He began. "It's not because I don't want to... its because I cant... I just really can't..."

He got up fully, Sakura sitting up too. The two of them were drenched, Sasuke staring off into space, jaw clenched, as if trying to stop himself from doing something Sakura knew all too well. As for Sakura, she was wet too, her pink hair matted around her face. Her clothes were dishoveled, and she had small cuts around her body.

"You should go, you should get some sleep." Sasuke reminded, and although it was meant to be a healthy care for a friend, it only made her heart falter.

"Right... right..."

Her mind unable to comprehend even the simplest of thought, and Inner Sakura ranting in her ear, she stood up too, walking very slowly out of the training grounds, the sound of Sasuke repeatedly banging his head on a tree accompanied her in her trek in the rain.

* * *

Yamanka Ino was pleasurably enjoying a conversation with Shikamaru, the youngest Naara. She looked like one of those air-heads usually seen on television, the ones that go, "uhh... like yeah..." repeatedly. At the moment, Ino was giving a flirtacious giggle, her finger twirling around the phone cord. 

"That's so funny Shika-kun." She giggled.

"Shika-kun?" An incredulous voice came from the other side of the line.

Ino giggled again. "Yes, Shika-kun-

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Oh lord." Ino growled. "Shika-kun, could you hang on for a minute? That annoying old hag of a landlord is knocking on my door again. I have to go yell at her."

"Sure." The other person on the phone agreed.

Ino placed the phone daintly on the side table, hopping over her couch to get to the door. She tripped over some of her old clothes, her apartment currently looking worse than Sakura's and TenTen's combined. Their was spilt water on the counter, and her dinner was still in the sink. But that's just the way she has always been, cleaning was always last minute for the Yamanaka girl.

"Oi! I'm coming! Stop knocking!" Ino shouted, fumbling with the lock to open her door.

As soon as the green door swung open, Ino opened her mouth. "What the hell?! DO you know what time it is-

Ino stood, stark in a towel, gaping at the sight.

"Sakrua?!?!" Ino gasped, giving a well-sculpted look at her best-friend. The girl in question was drenched, eyes puffy, face flushed, and clothes dripping.

"Oh my God Sakura! Hang on, I'll get a towel." Ino then rushed into her bathroom, momentarily forgetting Shikamaru, who was listening to the conversation throught the phone.The blonde darted out of her bathroom, throwing hordes of towels Sakura's way-which she caught off-handedly- and proceeded to ruffle her hair, sniffling all the while.

Meanwhile, Ino jumped over her couch, to the end table where the phone was.

"Hey Shika-kun?" She started. "Yeah, I kinda have a situation here-

"Don't worry, I heard. You should probably take care of Sakura." He chuckled.

Ino was once again surprised at Shikamaru's ingenius. "Thank's for understanding Shika-kun." She smiled, before saying goodbye and hanging up.

She turned around to look back at a wet Sakura. Even though she herself had just pulled an all-nighter, her hair up in a towel and a lithe pink towel hanging loosely around her curves, Sakura looked like she had just seen something worse than watching Naruto slurp ten bowls of Ramen in one sitting.

"Sakura?" She called softly. "Are you okay?"

"No.." Came Sakura's muffled reply, her face drying in a towel.

"Here, change into these clothes. Your soaked." Ino pointed to a set of her old pajamas that she had fished out from her closet.

After Sakura had changed into the knew set of clothes, and had rolled her soaked kunoichi outfit into a tight ball and placed it in a towel, she sat down, still sniffing, and her face red. Ino sat down next to her on the leather couch, condoling her friend quietly, waiting until Sakura was ready to talk to her. But Sakura refused to talk, opting to wait for Ino to interrogate her.

"Is it that bad?" Ino asked, talking about the current situation. "Should I get TenTen?"

Sakura shook her head. "No... it's just..." She started sobbing all over again. "Sasuke-kun..." She whimpered into Ino's pillow.

Ino gaze turned furious. "Sasuke?!? What did that man do to you?!" She growled, her mind set in a fury.

"Nothing," Sakura sighed. "Nothing I didn't want him to do."

The color in Ino's face drained. "You did THE deed?!?" She looked shocked.

Sakura blushed. "No! It..." Her fae turned somber again. "It didn't go that far."

There was an eerie silence that lay in the room. Ino wrapped her head around Sakura's words, trying to find the meaning.

"So... it was pretty intimate then?" Ino questioned.

Sakura blushed. "...Yeah..."

Ino snorted. "Than what's the problem? I've had my share of sexual interaction, and it never ends that badly-

"That's the thing." Sakrua cut in. "He said, 'he can't... he just really can't..." She sighed.

"Than maybe he meanse he can't have a relationship with you." Ino pointed out, scrutinizingly. She probably meant it in the least hurtful way, as ot not upset an already upset Sakura, but it had the opposite affect.

"B-But why?! Am I that stupid, am I that ugly? Am I just not cool enough for him-

That's when a sudden thought it her. And she stopped her ranting, her face and emotions sobering up. She had a distant look on her face, and it made Ino worry. Sakura's eyes turned glassy, and almost melancholy. As if she was accepting the fact, but too sad to contemplate about it.

"Avenger..." She whispered, tears dropping from her eyes. "He can't... because he's an avenger."

Tears fell from her eyes, and it was all Ino could do to just pat her friends back affectionately, and try to tell her that it will all be okay. Even though they both were lost and confused, unable to solve the mystery called Sasuke. The man was litteraly a whole bunch of cocky, and a little bit of anger mixed together. The two not making a good chemical mix in his brain (it only seemed to result in pent up sexual frustration)

The two were on Ino's couch for a long time, the sun rising in the distance, but the two made no move to get up and leave for their actaul practice.

"How can I face him?" Sakura suddenly asked. "How can I go to training with Kakashi-sensei and act like nothing happened?"

Ino had a solemn look on her face. "I'm sorry Sakura, I really don't know..." She sighed.

It was then that Ino had one of her few and far between ideas that actually had some sort of meaning, and will actually get a person somewhere. Her blue eyes began to glitter again, and she clasped her hands to hold back a girlish scream, earning a glare from Sakura, who was fairly sure Ino had gone insane.

"That's it!" Ino cheered. "I might not know, but I know someone who can help us!"

Sakura looked gloomy. "Who?"

* * *

_Popo-Chi! Next up: Chapter 10:A: The adventure to Jiraiya-sensei::tsuzuku::_


	11. A:

_Hehe... What does Jiraiya have in store for our herione? Popo-Chi! You'll have to find out! _

_

* * *

_

Sakura shuffled her feet uncomfortably, swishing her civilian-sandalized foot in the dust of the road. To say the least, wearing civilian clothing was... _uncomfortable _for Sakura. It was annoying to know that she would have to show her underwear if she flipped over to defend herself. It was bad enough, having the jean mini-skirt Ino had equipped her with, but the halter top?! That was out there.

"Stop worrying!" Ino chimed from next to her, loosely swinging an arm around Sakura. "And stop being prude."

"For the last time!" Sakrua hissed. "I am not prude!"

Ino shot a disbelieving look. "You finally get your lips on Sasuke and you _didn't _go any farther? I do believe that qualifies as a prude."

Sakura blushed furiosuly. "T-That's completely different!"

Ino rolled her eyes. "Right."

When Sakrua finally opened her mouth to protest the Pig, said Pig stopped in mid stride, choking Sakrua with her arm in the process. Sakrua made a strangled noise before tilting her head in the direction Ino was staring at. Her eyes focused on what looked to be a rather shady hotel, a women scantly dressed running out of the double doors, a clerk man yelling after her.

Sakrua fought the urge to groan.

When Ino had suggested that they visit this, Jiraiya person, Sakura was fairly certain that Jiraiya was some sort of relative of sorts that was a shrink, or something of that degree. But when the two of them passed the Yamanaka household, Sakura had to wonder just who this Jiraiya person was now. She had a sinking suspicion she wasn't going to like this.

"Uh, Ino." Sakura cleared her throat. "Just _who _is this Jiraiya person?"

"Oh! He's one of the three legendary sannin-

"Yes, you alread told me that." Sakrua interrupted. "But what is this sannin doing in a shady run-down hotel like this?"

"Well Ya'see..." Ino had a sheepish grin. "He's sorta a pervert of sorts."

"What?!?"

Ino waved her hands infront of her. "N-nothing more than a garden pervert!"

Sakura raised a brow, but didn't say anything.

But Sakura was silently wondering, just how much of a pervert was he? Now Sakura had seen her fair share of garden perverts, seeing as though Naruto was shaping into quite a good one, but she wasn't sure the extent of it. The term garden pervert was used loosely, and it was only so much one could tell between a petefile and a moron looking for a voyuer shot.

Why did Sakura have the feeling this man was a little too much for two teen girls to be seeing?

She unconcisously tugged at the hem of her skirt, the threads hanging loosely. She bit her lip, watching Ino flounce around looking for a map of sorts, attracting alot of unwanted attention with her plunging neckline. Sakura sighed. Well, at least her best friend was here. She had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to pull a stunt like this if she were alone.

"Ino?"

Ino looked up surprised. "Shika-kun! What are you doing here?" She probably meant that since this was a brothel of sorts, her boyfriend should steer clear of this place.

Shikamaru blushed. "Nothing like that! We're having a family get-together dinner, and my twice removed cousin kinda 'works' here." Shikamaru convieniently left out the part that Sasuke used this certain cousins dress when spying on the girls.

"Oh!" Ino nodded, understandingly.

"Well..." Shikamaru scratched the back of his head. "Would you... like to come to dinner?"

Ino gasped in delight. "Of course! Thanks Shika-kun!"

With that, the two of them walked off together, hand in hand.

"Oi! Hate to break the moment but we're on a hunt here Pig!" Sakura yelled at her now dissapearing friend.

Ino waved a hand over her shoulder. "He's on the third floor to the left!" With that, Shikamaru and Ino turned the corner.

Sakrua gave a self-centered sigh of disconent. As if she was fidgety around this place with Ino, now she was alone, getting looks from men she had never seen, and feeling alone. She looked out of place too, the women around her twice her age, and dressed in skimpy outfits. She unconsciously crumpled the note in her hand, where she had written the address of this so called shrink.

With tentative steps, she began to walk towards the door, shady people leaning against walls of other building watching her closely. She was almost to the door when a greasy hand stopped her. She turned around in fear to see a man twice her size, a beer bottle in his hand.

"Hello little lady... How ya doin'?" He slurred, rocking back and forth.

She gulped. "G-get away from me!" She pushed him but he didn't budge.

"Aw c'mon... I'm sure you'd like ta spend sum time with me-

"No! Just get away from me!" Sakura was too afraid if she tried to defend herself, she may end up showing the rest of the thugs around here her frilly Uchiha underwear.

The man in question shot her a vulgar look. "Sorry missy, you're too important for that." It seemed almost as if his entire facade suddenly dropped.

"I-important?!" Saskura gawked. "Why would I be important?"

The man looked like he had accidently made a slip in his act. "Look here kid," His voice turned gruff. "You either come with me, or I take you the hard way." He shot a look at her chest. "The pleasurable way."

The color drained from Sakura's face. "W-what?! Never!" She immediately tried to run out of this place, before it got out of hand, but there weren't many exits.

His large hand grabbed her shoulder, holding her in place as she struggled. "Let go!" She ground out, teeth clenched as she tried to grab her shirt away from him.

"Just keep your mouth shut." He warned viciously. "Stop acting like a child."

"I am acting like a person who has been kidnapped and about to be raped!" She screamed at him furiosly. "Just how _sane _am I suppose to be huh?!"

The man struggled with his hold on her as she landed hard punches at him. "Ugh, stupid kid." He grumbled, releasing her and clutching his stomach.

Her anger grew in leaps and bounds, overflowing from its confinement in her heart. "What the hell?! Who the hell do you think you are anyways! I'm not just going to go with me because I'm _important _!"

"I suggest you take the lady's advice before I personally fulfill her request." A suave voice came from behind her.

Sakura's heart lept leaps and bounds, having a gut feeling it was Sasuke to her rescue. Even in her civilian clothes did he recognize her! Then again, there weren't many people in Konoha that had pink hair... But then she felt a tingle in her chest, how would she talk to Sasuke? She still didn't know. It would just be so akward between the two of them.

The drunk man snorted. "What do you want, ya stupid red-head punk?"

Red head? Sakura pondered for a moment, who had red hair again? She whirled around as she thought of it. "Gaara!" The moment she turned around, sand enveloped the man trying to kidnap her, and the mangled cries of the man were muffled by the sand.

"Gaara-san?" She called once more, rather timidly.

His eyes didn't leave the sand. "You should be more careful, Sakura-san."

She flushed. "I-I'll try." She stammered.

His teal eyes scanned the area, all thugs scattered from the sight of his Sand Funeral. "So... tell me what you're doing in such a vulgar place like this."

"Uh..." She fought for words. "I'm kinda looking for this man named Jiraiya..."

"Jiraiya?" Gaara echoed. "The Sannin?"

"That one!" She remembered. "He's supposed to be on the third floor..."

Gaara's frown deepend, but he said nothing. Instead, he opted to grab her wrist and personally guide her into the run down building, her protesting the entire way, and tripping over her own feet to catch up to him. Gaara was never really a man of many words, and had opted to take action instead of letting Sakura get into more trouble.

"Uh... Gaara-san, not to say that I'm not grateful for you rescueing me... but..." She trailed off to find the right words. "This really isn't neccesary."

He paused in mid-stride momentarily. "Would you like to run into more trouble?"

"Well no," She started. "But I don't want you to have to waste your time with me."

"I'm not wasting my time." He repriminded. "Anything's better than having your siblings follow you everywhere."

"W-well," She stuttered. "If you say so..."

Sakura didn't know what else to say so she left it at that. The two went through the double doors, a soft jingle errupted from the bell at the top, and the inhabitants momentarily stopped what they were doing to stare at the knew arrivals. The entire place smelt like cigarettes, and Gaara lifted his nose in disdain. Sakura too held her nose as a waft of smoke came their way.

"How long you folks gonna be here for?" The cashier leaned over the counter, giving a toothy smile. "It's 5 ryo per hour."

"Oh no!" Sakura waved her hand. "We're just looking for someone."

"Someone?" The cashier echoed. "Well who?"

"Jiraiya." Gaara replied.

"Ah!" That name rang a bell. "He's a regular here, third floor second door to the left." The cashier directed, and Gaara and Sakura were about to go up the stairs when he called after them. "You might want to knock first!"

Even the hallways smelt bad, and Sakura was afraid to touch the railing, it was probably covered in diseases. She just followed Gaara up the three flights in silence, wondering just what this Jiraiya looked like. She had never heard of a Sannin like this, and it ruined her entire ideal of what a Sannin would be. It made her wonder if she was turn into some wierdo if she became a great ninja. She shuddered at the thought.

Gaara, who was in the lead, opened the creeky metal door, rust covering the hinges. It gave a strangled cry as the two exited the damp stairwell. Sakura quietly counted the doors until the came to the right one.

She knocked. "Um... Jiraiya-sensei?"

"Come in."

She slowly opened the door, Gaara behind her. "Jiraiya-sensei?"

"Who are you?!" The man looked at her. "Jeez, hookers are young these days."

"Wait! I'm not a hooker!" Sakura protested. "I'm... uh... looking for advice."

"Advice?" The man named Jiraiya echoed. "What am I, a shrink?"

"Well that's what Ino said..." Sakura started feeling nervous.

"Ino? Like InoShikaChou?" Jiraiya got off the bed to stand fully infront of her.

"Yeah! That's Ino-chan's father, I'm talking about Yamanaka Ino, his daughter." Sakura answered.

Jiraiya gave a perverted look. "Sure I'll help you, if you do me a _favor_ in return."

"She's not doing anything." Gaara stood next to Sakura, growling.

Although Jiraiya was definetely a pervert, he was no fool. He felt the murderous aura around the boy, and it only took a few moments for him to realize the chakra pattern. It had to be a Jinchuuriki, there weren't too many of those. This boy with green eyes, staring him down, was one of the nine Jinchuurikis. From the way his Chakra expanded from him, he was probably the host for Shukaku.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, but made no move to attack the young Jinchuuriki. Gaara too, narrowed his eyes, and the two of them locked into a death stare. Sakura was left to look at both of them, swishing from side to side to wonder what they were staring at eachother for.

"Fine fine," Gaara apperently won. "Come in little missy."

He beckoned for them to come in, and he sat on the bed while the two of them took chairs.

"And what do you need advice for?"

"Well," Sakura started. "I'm having... romantic troubles, you could put it that way."

"Of course, and what is your name again?"

"Haruno Sakura." Sakura informed.

"Haruno?"

"Um..." Sakura looked timid for a moment. "Yeah."

Sakura knew for a fact that there was no one famous in her family, her mother a normal housewife, and her father a normal business man. It was one of the reasons why she wanted to become a ninja, to be one of those few in her family that were actually deemed interesting. Like her older cousin who was in ANBU, always the talk of her family, and she wanted to be like that too.

But apparently her family had some sort of affect on Jiraiya.

"Oh I'm sorry, I dozed in thought there. Who is this person you're having romantic troubles with?"

"Oh! Uh... Uchiha Sasuke."

"I see, I see," Jiraiya seemed in thought. "The Uchiha brat huh? Well I have quite the strategy in mind."

* * *

Sakura was starting to feel a bit nervous, with Jiraiya staring at her so much, and unconciously tugged the hem of her skirt a little lower. Gaara was next to her though, and had probably gone into protective older brother mode while glaring daggers at Jiraiya's back. But Sakura had the feeling that it was just a warning glare, like he was saying "back off", more over, "i'll rip your spine out." 

Sakura gave an uncomforatble sigh.

"Now Sakura, my plan will never lose!" Jiraiya stuck the 'Gai' pose and Sakura felt herself grin.

"Is it neccesary?"

"Naturally!" Jiraiya reasoned. "We must keep your identity a secret so the Uchiha brat doesn't realize it is you. I would have dyed you head blonde but you would still see pink so... well, red it is!"

That's right, Sakura was no longe a pink-head, but a red-head. It was only temporary of course.

And hopefully, the clevadge exposing shirt and short skirt would be temproary as well. Sakura was itching to get back into her kunoichi outfit. Just _itching_, but whoever, the need to see Sasuke (without a wave of tension drowning her) was elevating at a higher rate than to snap Jiraiya's neck and change into her normal clothes. She just hoped this would pay off.

"It's not that I don't trust you, Jiraiya-san." Sakura began.

_Like hell we trust him. _

"But I'm not..." Sakura fidgeted. "I'm just not comfortable in these kind of clothes..."

"Civilian clothers?" Gaara filled the blank in for her.

"Yes! That's it. I'm not comfortable anymore in civilian clothes." Sakura explained.

Jiraiya scratched his chin. "Well you wanted to see the Uchiha boy, did you not?"

"Well yes..."

"The problem solved! You and the Uchiha shouldn't have any more problems." Jiraiya smiled, creepily almost.

"If you say so..." Sakura sighed unsuringly.

"Stay out of trouble Sakura." Gaara warned.

"I will." Sakura nodded dumbly. "Trouble usually finds me."

Needless to say, when Jiraiya waved Sakura goodbye, and Gaara too eventually left when an enraged (and probably PMSing) Temari decided to play 'pin the senbon needle at your two brothers' and Gaara had to run off before his sister found him. Leaving poor old Sakura to deal with Sasuke, who hopefully wouldn't notice her.

If her memory served, she never actaully wore anything more than just the Haruno clan dress. So hopefully Sasuke wouldn't be able to remember after such a long time with her wearing civilian's clothese. Plus, her hair was the color of red wine (like Kairi's from Kingdom Hearts) and her eyes, well, were the same really. Although her haircut gave a nice side-sweep look to her forehead, so she didn't need to worry about Ino coming out of nowhere and yelling fore-head at her.

The only thing left unknown were the whereabouts of Uchiha Sasuke.

After checking just about every training ground, seeing Naruto at Ichiraku's and chatting up with Neji and Shikamaru, she was yet to find the person she was actually looking for. The said enigma was becoming quite elusive these days, and it was as easy to find him as it was to spot Kakashi. Never in her life had Sakura ever known where Kakashi went when he wasn't with them, and she had a feeling it would certainly stay that way.

"Where could he be..." Sakura grumbled. "Stupid Uchiha..."

Wait a minute... Uchiha...

"That's it!" Sakura clapped her hands together. "Uchiha compound!"

With that, she turned her direction and sprinted down a couple of short cuts to go and look for Sasuke.

Whoever, her plan was becoming rather futile. Once again, Sakura underestimated the pure size of the Uchiha compound, whose gates were now towering over her. Sakura had bever seen so many Uchiha fans in her life. Discounting the one she had accidently ripped off of Sasuke, and she had accidently forgot the pendant hanging around her neck.

She turned a few corners, hearing the faint sound of kunai hitting wood. It sounded the same as it did yesterday... she shook her head. She had been willing herself _not _to think of yesterday, because it would make her feel melancholy all over again. She doubted she would cry all over again, but it was enough to at least glaze her eyes over.

She was too imersed in her thoughts to realize the kunai had stopped.

"Can I help you?" A smooth voice came from behind her.

Sakura's brain was temporarily mush, and she had to pull it together quick. _Think... think!!!! _She willed herself, trying to remember what on Earth she was doing. That's when she realized something... she had that Uchiha necklace! She was Mamiko!

"Uh-I... um... I think you might have given this to me accidently." She turned around to look at him, with a blush rivaling Hinata's.

Sasuke raised a brow. "Give you what?"

She tentatively held out the pendant. "I think this is yours, you're the only Uchiha in town so..."

"Oh Mamiko-san!" Sasuke seemed to suddenly remember. "You don't have to give it back. You're suppose to keep it."

"Oh!" Sakura stared wide-eyed. "I can't keep it! It must be so expensive!"

"Just think of it as a gift." Sasuke couldn't just tell her that he gave it to her because she was his ticket to getting Ami and his fangirls away.

"Ah! Thank you Sasuke-kun." Sakura smiled politely.

Sasuke etched a frown. "How did you know my name? And how did you even know it was me, I was wearing a mask."

"Ahahaha..." Sakura trailed off. "Well there's only one Uchiha in town soo..."

_You're the worst man in incogneto ever!!!!! _Inner Sakura wanted to reprimind him.

Sasuke scanned a look at her. "Are you a ninja?"

"Uh-yeah!" Sakura answered truthfully. "I'm kinda incogneto at the moment though."

"Hiding from someone?" He asked gracefully.

"I guess so..." Not entirely a lie, although Inner Sakura was waiting to scream, _I'm hiding from you dumbass_

Sakura shuffled her feet unconsiously. "Uh... I'm very sorry, but I have to go, I'm on a tight schedule."

Okay, that was a COMPLETE lie, but Sakura was in no mood to deal with the Uchiha. Well she was, just not the tension that always seemed to hang over him like a dark cloud. It had to be an Uchiha thing, gloomy clouds and the usual 'hn's that seemed to be made into a language by them. Well, she only knew one Uchiha, but she was fairly sure Sasuke had to pick the habit up from someone.

She was about to turn tail and duck under Sasuke, when he caught her hand. She turned around, her red-wine hair showing perfectly in the sun and her green eyes widening. "Sasuke-kun?" She managed to get out as she tried to get her hand out of the vice-like grip.

"You're not going anywhere." He stated, though not in a cold way.

He was though, slightly enraged that he-the bachelor of Konoha with a fangirl population of 500 and 20 in Suna- was being beaten by this elusive red-head whom he knew virtually NOTHING about, and yet found himself absolutely captivated by her as well. She had gorgeous, but familiar eyes, and hair that, although rather flashy, had a brilliance on its own.

And yet, here he was, pleading (well, his version of pleading) for her to stay.

Sakura gave a soft sigh. It would be on a high level of cruel for her to go far with Sasuke, as Mamiko, and then for him to one day find out that Mamiko was Sakura, and feel crushed because he probably didn't like her. Well, he did like Sakura, but Sakura is yet to realize that, and is still thinking that Sasuke liked Mamiko. (he does like both of them, but doesn't realize their the same)

"I-I'm sorry." Sakura quickly apologized, and retracted her hand when his grip loosened.

However, Sasuke was prepaired, he was the number one Gennin in Konoha at the moment, and would not be easily beat by a girl in flip-flops and a short mini skirt in a sprinting contest.

But Sasuke didn't prepare on this.

She made a few designatied hand seals, and dissapeared in a whirl of leaves, tears falling from her eyes and her hands at her sides as if to keep herself from regretting her desicion and pulling him towards her.

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise. She would have to be quite a skilled kunoichi to do that. Well, not as skilled as himself, but certainly skilled all the same. She certainly had to be more skilled than Sakura. (oh really?) But wait... what about the Chuunin Exams? Would she be in there? But if she was a Konoha Gennin, he would have known because there were only a handful of them.

But what if this Mamiko person isn't even Gennin at all? What if she's Chuunin, or even Jounin? How would he know? Well... he would just have to infiltrate the Hokage Tower and find out for himself...

* * *

"You want me to do what?!" The Nara boy gave him a incredulous glare. "Give me a good reason I should." 

"Hm..." The raven-haired boy pondered for a moment. "I'll tell Ino you were watching her undress from Neji's apartment."

"You wouldn't dare." Shikamaru frowned.

"Didn't know you were much of a black-mailer Uchiha." The Hyuga prodigy's swift comeback came.

"Like you one to talk Neji." Shikamaru scoffed. "You've been spying on TenTen ever since you _bought _this place."

"That was about three years ago." Sasuke added.

Neji gave a growl.

"How about this. I don't tell Ino or TenTen what you guys have been doing if you just help me." Sasuke reasoned, and the other two were left with anger, but no qualms against it.

"Fine."

"So toublesome."

So now the three of them were standing near Hokage Tower, which really was an oversized fortress, after Neji checked it with his Byakugan. There was only one way in and out discounting windows; the front door. Shikamaru devised that they should wait until the shadow of the trees reach the Chuunin guards, before Sasuke and Neji head in, whil Shikamaru temproarily blocks the Chuunin.

"You only have a short time." Shikamaru told them. "My jutsu probably will last long enough for the two of you to reach the library."

"I'll use my Byakugan to guide." Neji told Sasuke, who nodded his head. The two of them dashed inside as Shikamaru used his shadow possesion.

"So troublesome for one woman." Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag."

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Neji made their way up the flights of stairs, keeping themselves hidden from all the workers that went by. Luckily, most of the Chuunin guards weren't expecting trouble to come in the form of two Gennin prodigies, and dismissed them because neither of the two were Naruto, the usual prankster.

Neji repeatedly got lost, as his Byakugan saw through walls usually, and they usually found themselvevs at a dead end. By the time they even got to the library, Shikamaru's jutsu would be long gone, and just about the entire tower would be looking for the two of them, in a matter of moments. Fortunately for them, they reached the secret library of information on Konoha citizens.

The two sweatdropped. It would have helped if they knew Mamiko's last name.

"Well, their can't be _that _many people named Mamiko." Sasuke reasoned pitifully.

Neji gave a sigh. "What a long day ahead of us."

With that, the two of them began to look into the many srolls that had the first name, "mamiko" on them. In a few moments, Sasuke found a girl with the name Mamiko. He reached up, and grabbed it from the spot that said, "Uzuma Mamiko" and brought it down to his level. He scanned the containments, before realizing that this was defintely the wrong person.

Sasuke went to put the scroll back, when he realized something odd.

"Neji," He called. "Naruto's surname is Uzumaki right?"

"Yeah." Neji agreed, looking into another scroll named "Kazao Mamiko" but it was also wrong.

"Then why isn't he here?" Sasuke wondered out loud, spelling U-Z-U-M-A-K-I in his head repeatedly, and it should be somewhere near Uzuma Mamiko, but it was nowhere to be found.

"Maybe someone took it." Neji answered, placing his scroll back where he found it. His eyes suddenly widened at what he saw as he put the scroll back.

"Holy Shit Sasuke! Look at this-

"And just what do you think you're doing?" A voice bellowed.

The two of them were caught red-handed as the Hokage opened the door. Luckily, Sarutobi was alone, and probably heard Neji's rather loud, "Holy Shit!" And went to investigate what anyone was doing in the library if he hadn't ordered them. His eyes seemed to widen in surprise as he saw Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Neji apart from the usual Uzumaki Naruto.

"Uchiha! Hyuga!" Sarutobi seemed relieved. "And here I thought you were enemy Nin."

"S-sorry Hokage-sama." Neji bowed politely, and Sasuke followed in suit.

The fourth tapped his chin. "And what exactly were you doing here anyways?"

"Well..."

"...Er..."

The Hokage was a patient man, and waited. "Well?"

"We were... loking for information." Neji finally answered.

"Information on what?"

"This girl named Mamiko." Sasuke informed, a blush on his face.

Luckily, Sarutobi was in good spirits today, and would let the two slip by with some information. "I'm afraid there are no girls your age named Mamiko, there is however, an elder woman by the name of Kazao Mamiko, and a 5 month old named Uzuma Mamiko. Are those any of the people you are looking for."

"No." Sasuke and Neji repeated together.

"Then I suggest you get out before guards get you."

"Yes Hokage-sama."

Sasuke and Neji ran out of the library, Sarutobi returned to his office with a slight grin on his face. It had been a while since any pranks or infultrations had been pulled, and Sarutobi was glad that Naruto wasn't the only one who had great stealth. It seems that Naruto's pranking personality had rubbed off on his friends. And it was alsot good to see that Naruto had some friends, the Uchiha and Hyuga prodigies no less.

Sasuke and Neji ran down the stairs, but instead of exiting through a rather crowded front door, they opened a window and jumped out. the two saw Shikamaru resting ona park bench, probably out of chakra, and hands clasped behind his back.

"Shikamaru!"

The lazy genius looked up, and Sasuke and Neji ran to him, out of breath.

"Did you get it?" He asked, eyes closed.

"No." Sasuke grumbled. "Hokage found us."

"Too bad." Shikamaru didn't seem very sympathetic.

"But I have even wierder news." Neji said. "Even wierder than Mamiko's wierd dissapearence."

"What?" Shikamaru wasn't believing was he?

"Yeah right." Sasuke scoffed.

"I found Naruto." Neji took a breath. "But he wasn't under Uzumaki."

This raised confusion between the two of them. "Well..." Shikamaru started. "Where was he?"

"His name is Kazama Naruto."

There was utter silence. And Sasuke's eyes widened significantly as he realized what Neji just said. Shikamaru's mouth opened and nearly dropped, makinga croaking noise.

"What?!?!"

"How?!?"

"When?!?!"

Neji was immediately bombarded with questions. Questions he didn't have the answers to. In fact, the Hyuga wanted to know more about this himself. What secret was Naruto hiding? Could he possibly be the Yondaime's son? Is that even possible? None of them knew much about the Yondaime, aside from the fact he was one fo the best ninjas ever and that he sealed the Kyuubi.

"I don't know." Neji admitted. "I didn't have time to look into it."

Shikamaru regained composure. "It seems we have a bigger mystery on our hands."

The other two silently agreed.

* * *

_it seems that as the finale comes closer, the more interesting stuff comes out. Will Naruto tell them? And does he even know himself? And what about Sakura? How is she suppose to avoid Sasuke now that her hair dye won't come out until another week?_ _Did you get the part with Uzuma (uzumaki) and Kazao (Kazama) They'd half to be close to eachother if it was in alphebetical order._

_Popochi! Up next; Chapter 11:N: Mysteries answered or unanswered::tusuku::_


	12. N

_Here's the next chapter for you to enjoy. I'll post the next soon…as soon as I can anyways. And leave reviews okay? I love them! Please! Oh, and for Sakura's "Mamiko" look, think of Kairi from Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

_

GRARRRR

GRARRRR

GRARRRR

It only took three times and Haruno Sakura was already up. She gave a loud groan, that could rival that of a bear twice her size, a feral hand swiping her alarm clock, whom she though to be the cause of the noise. Evidently, the loud resonance had not come from the alarm clock that she fiercely hated, but from a being outside of the confinement of her room.

She shuffled out of her bed, kicking her cat, and made a bee line towards the door. She gave a glance at herself in the mirror, easily noticing the bright red hair and the bags under her eyes from constant medical training.

Sakura opened her front door, and had already noticed that the sound had absolutely tripled in noise. It was no longer a buzzing noise resonating in her ear, but a full out screech that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Sakura covered her ears, noticing Ino and TenTen outside their apartments too, one tapping impatiently, and the other covering her ears too.

"OI!!!" Ino waved her hand at a worker. "Stop that noise!" She screeched.

The worker beckoned the others to stop, and lifted his mask so that he could address a barely clothed Ino, who probably would scream at him until he was deaf for ruining her beauty sleep.

"What the hell do you think you-" She stopped mid sentence. "Helloooo hot stuff!"

TenTen and Sakura bother sweat-dropped, as Ino realized just how adorable the boy was. She put a finger to her lip coyly, and all new that the Pig was now in flirting mode, a usual for the blonde, even when she's with Shikamaru.

Ino was already flirting, and the seemingly young worker was all too kind to flirt back. Sakura, who knew that Ino wasn't going to do anything BUT flirt, stepped up to the worker.

"Excuse my friend here," She put a hand on Ino's shoulder. "But we would like to know what all this commotion is."

"Ah!" The brunette seemed to understand. "Sorry for coming without sending a notice to the people of this complex, but it seems one of you neighbors complained about the stairs, and were putting an elevator in."

"Oh," Sakura smiled sweetly. "Thank you for telling me."

She then grabbed Ino's shoulder all too gently, and hauled her into her apartment. TenTen following in suit. She shut the door and the workers began their construction over again.

When the door was firmly shut, and Ino knew she was going to get a hell of a yelling, Sakura started fuming. Her sweetness seemed to evaporate into thin air, and she was just about screeching.

"ELEVATOR?!?! Ino!!! Why would you send such a stupid complaint?!" Sakura's question echoed in her house.

"Well…um…" Ino fought for an excuse. "Because it's too troublesome to climb up the stairs." She used Shikamaru's infamous word as a last resort.

'That's it?!" Sakura seethed. "Ino you're a ninja! You don't need stairs!"

"So?" Came Ino's immediate reply.

TenTen sighed as well. "Sakura has a point, you don't need an elevator, and you just want one."

"Seriously Ino, how am I suppose to concentrate now?" Sakura fumed.

Ino smiled. "You could always go to Kakashi's!"

"You're forgetting he's nothing but a pervert." TenTen reminded.

"Well what about nature?" Ino suggested. "I mean, Training Ground 7 is rarely used, and it has a beautiful river! It's perfect for medical training!"

Sakura sighed, defeated. "I guess…"

"Great! It's settled then!" Ino chirped. "The workers will only be here for a month at least."

Sakura groaned.

"But don't worry, there are cute guys surrounding us! Take pleasure in that!" Ino reminded, already half way out the door with TenTen close behind.

"You're the only one who would take pleasure in that Ino." TenTen's swift reply came as the two exited Sakura's apartment, the buzzing now filling her lone apartment wholly.

Sakura gave another sigh, before walking into her room, grabbing as many medical books she could-which was quite a few because of her strength-and headed out the door, waving to her fat cat, who said nothing in return, and merely curled up tighter to avoid the noise outside. She closed her door, and hoped that she would be back to drop off her medical books before training with Kakashi, which did start at 1 o'clock, but with his usual tardiness more like 3.

The walk from her apartment complex over to Training Ground Seven was completely uneventful. She managed to dodge Naruto easily, her hair a different color, and her bangs covering her forehead. She looked at the blonde in question, who was enjoying a meal of ramen with Hinata, who looked like she was about to faint.

"Are you alright miss?" She played innocent as she looked at Hinata in worry.

Hinata swayed a little. "Ah… I-I'm okay…"

Naruto looked up from his ramen. "Yeah, Hinata-chan, are you alright?"

Hinata's blush deepened if possible. "N-Naruto-kun! I'm fine."

"No your not miss, here I'll help you." Sakura quickly took care of Hinata, who was now looking normal color.

"T-Thank you."

"It's not problem." Sakura smiled as she walked away, leaving Naruto and Hinata to their ramen.

* * *

As soon as the mysterious red-wined haired girl left, Sasuke came out of nowhere, panting, looking absolutely exhausted. Probably due to his insanely long morning training hours. He took a seat to Naruto's left, and the tension between Naruto and Hinata (or just Hinata) was broken like frail cobwebs. He ordered his favorite ramen, and sighed almost in defeat. Very un-Sasuke to do.

"You okay Sasuke-teme?" Naruto questioned while slurping his noodles.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, not wanting to talk about it.

"Oh… okay?" Naruto wasn't sure for a good course of action, so opted to leave the brooding boy alone and turn around to talk to Hinata, who was looking feverish all over again.

It was a while before Sasuke actually started to talk.

"Naruto…" Sasuke began, and earned the blonde's attention when he actually said his name. "Have you seen a… red-head around here?"

"Red-head?" Naruto echoed forlornly.

"Never mind." Sasuke said rather quickly. "That was stupid of me to ask."

"A-actually," Hinata spoke up. "T-there was an r-red-head who h-healed me a few moments ago."

"Red-head?" Sasuke sprang to his feet. "When?? How?? Where did she go? Which direction??"

Hinata was frightened from all the bombarding of questions.

"Slow down Sasuke-teme!" Naruto pushed the Uchiha back to his seat.

"We don't know where she is! But she was a great medic, maybe Chuunin, even Jounin level."

Sasuke was absolutely amazed at Mamikos' skill. He paid for his food silently and as brooding as before, and got out of his chair, and was about to leave the Ramen Shop when he remembered a rather important detail.

"Naruto…" He called again, and said boy looked up. "What's your surname?"

Naruto froze. He dropped his chopsticks in mid stride, and they plopped into his soup. Hinata noticed that he seemed scared suddenly, even without her byakugan. She decided to take action before Naruto totally blew it.

"Um…" Hinata's voice was shy and quite. "I-I think s-she went to Training Ground 7." Hinata was lying through her teeth, even though it was a perfect guess.

Sasuke immediately perked up, dropping the subject about Naruto. "Thank you." He said before he took off, leaping over buildings, making his was to Training Ground 7 to catch up to Mamiko.

_Training Ground 7…_ He thought to himself, flying through the air, like a shadow in the wind. Looking like most ninja do when they fly through the air, and caught the attention of the people below him… even a certain red-head's.

Sakura looked towards the sky, noticing a high speed presence above her, and watched as a shadowed ninja flew in the air, landing on buildings before hopping over again. _A test of speed._ She thought wildly, and took off with the incognito ninja (like she's one to talk, she's incognito too) jumping on other buildings.

Luckily for a challenge-driven Sakura, Sasuke was far to engrossed on arriving at Training Ground 7, that he hadn't noticed that someone was following him, much less racing him with a speed that rivaled his own. Although he himself was no speed demon, which title belonged to Lee, but Sakura was certainly as fast as himself.

The two were heading to Training Ground 7 quickly, and Sakura clutched her books tighter so they wouldn't fall as they decreased speed. Sasuke still hadn't noticed the ninja behind him-amazingly stealthy for Sakura- and abruptly stopped when he arrived at the Training Ground 7. He was poised on a pine tree with perfect shinobi balance.

However, his balance was lost when someone flew into him, and the two toppled off the tree.

The next thing poor Sasuke knew, he was slammed into the ground, and there was definitely someone on top of him. Not heavy enough to be male ninja, but certainly a kunoichi. He opened his eyes with a stifled groan, lifting the two of them up off the floor, the girl collapsed in his lap, was slowly regaining motion as well.

"Sakura?" Was the first thing he said when he looked into her piercing green eyes.

Sakura almost did a double-take, but regained herself. "Excuse me?"

"Err... I'm sorry I-" His eyes widened beyond disbelief. "Mamiko?"

"Ah Sasuke-kun!" Sakura feigned innocence. "It seems we have crashed into each other once again." She giggled as she added, "Quite literally this time too."

Sasuke would have at least smirked if it wasn't for his dead-set attitude to catch her. Without second thought, he latched his arm onto hers.

"Uh… Sasuke-kun…?" Sakura looked at his arm on hers with a heated blush. "What are you-?"

Before Sakura could react, Sasuke had made hand seals, temporarily releasing her hand, and then replacing his hand in hers. Sakura could only look at her hand embarrassingly.

"What-

"It's a jutsu." Sasuke stated. "You can't take your hand off of mine for two hours.

Sakura was quiet for a moment.

"Wait what?!?!?" She yelled, cursing the heavens in outrage.

Sasuke wanted to cover his ear, but his hands were 'tied'. He personally saw nothing THAT wrong about it. It was only two hours, but apparently Mamiko was more solitary than he was, and couldn't bare to have to sit with a person and walk for two hours.

Of course, he didn't know the entire story.

In fact, he didn't know even the slightest. Because Sakura is Mamiko, in disguise, and couldn't stay near him long and keep the façade up. But he didn't know that, and Sakura would just have to put up with him for two hours, or try to come up with a decent excuse.

"But-But I have studies!" Sakura reasoned. "And training and medical training and friends and missions and team meetings and-

"Okay Okay!" Sasuke stopped her. "I'll just accompany you." He said simply.

Sakura's mouth dropped. Who knew Sasuke was such a simple man?

"It isn't that simple Sasuke-kun…" Sakura wasn't sure how to word this, without giving it away that she was Sakura.

But Sakura isn't known for her brains for nothing, and thought up a plan easily.

"You see," Sakura started. "My father's a rich man, and I'm his only heir."

"Okay, so you're an heiress." Sasuke stated. "So?"

"Well, he's very…um.. protective! Yes that's it, protective of me, and doesn't want me to have a boyfriend at all. And this entire situation is rather provocative!" Sakura finished her excuse, but really didn't have much of idea what provocative actually _meant_, but hopefully she used it correctly.

"Oh."

Well Sasuke was in a rather understanding mood wasn't he? He hadn't brooded as of yet, and was yet to use the infamous, 'hn'.

"Then we could just stay here." Sasuke reasoned.

Sakura nearly fell over. "But I have stuff to do! Like training and team meetings!"

"Skip the team meetings." Sasuke reasoned again. "And you can study your books and train here."

Now Sasuke may be in an understanding mood, but he was still as stubborn as ever, and wouldn't take the subtle hint that Sakura was trying to weasel her way out of an uncomfortable situation. If anything, dealing with those workers was better than this.

Sakura sighed in defeat. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay here." _It's not like you'd let me leave anyways._

Sasuke nodded his head approvingly. In absolute silence, Sakura used her free hand to pick up her medical book from the ground. It was a little heavy, but she placed it on her lap, and opened it, Sasuke sitting next to her reading it with a sideways glance.

The first thing that popped into Sasuke's mind was complicated. Extravagant words that were so large that he barely knew what it meant, and, many were scientific names for the human anatomy, that wasn't all that interesting.

"Are you a medic?" He asked her.

Sakura looked up. "Training to be one." She answered rather curtly. "And you?"

"Huh?"

"What's your goal?" Sakura asked casually, even though she knew it.

Sasuke's smirk turned to a frown. "To kill a certain man."

"Oh." Sakura once again feigned innocence. "Okay."

Sakura noticed that Sasuke wasn't going to ask any more questions now that he was brooding, so she decided to talk. She mentally cursed herself for bringing up the touchy subject.

"My goal is to be… Well I don't know, noticed I guess." She answered truthfully.

Sasuke looked up at this.

"I've always been a shadow of sorts, and no one ever really liked me." She continued. "It'd be great to be someone that everyone remembered you know?"

Okay, so she partially got that off of Naruto, but it's not like Sasuke would know that. However, he did know that. It was rather similar to Naruto's goal, aside from the fact he wanted recognition by being the Hokage, while Mamiko wanted to be noticed as a shinobi.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked rather bluntly.

Sakura froze, for a reason that she really didn't know. Those words on Sasuke's lips seemed so utterly… familiar. She didn't know where she heard it, or even when she heard it, but his voice, as he said those three words, she found herself in a lost memory.

_Who……_

…_are…_

……_you_?

_--_

_--_

_Are you okay?_

…_sniff…_

_Um…hello? Are you alright miss?_

…_sniff…_

_Oh…okay then… who are you?_

…_sniff…_

_I'm Sasuke Uchiha. _

…_sniff…_

_I have an older brother, who's really cool, and a mommy and a daddy._

…_sniff…_

_What about you? Do you have family?_

…_no…_

_Oh… that's sad. But don't worry! I'll be your family!_

_We'll always be together, always. Okay?_

…_okay…_

_--_

_--_

……_who_

…_are…_

_you……?_

"Mamiko…?"

Sakura nearly fell over as she snapped back into reality. She looked rather dazed, as her eyes stopped being as glassy and she looked up to meet Sasuke's obsidian gaze. Indulging and nostalgic at the same time. But she couldn't figure it out, where had she heard that? She couldn't place her finger on it.

"Oh sorry, I kind of zoned there didn't I?" Sakura smiled sheepishly.

Sasuke gave a skeptical look, but didn't question. Sadly, the little cloud of tension that Sasuke carried around was hanging over his head again, and even though she was technically, 'Mamiko' she was still subjected to the cloud, and was caught in another tense moment with the infamous Uchiha.

"Um…" Sakura tried to figure a good topic. "Tell me about yourself."

When she thought about it, she never really had asked Sasuke about himself, if she ever really talked to him, it was for a date, and those were always rejected.

"There's nothing to tell." Sasuke hedged the question easily.

Sakura gave a sly smile, hidden behind an innocent one. "There's always something to tell."

Sasuke frowned. "Not always."

"Sure there is." Sakura objected. "People are all different, and you are different too, there's got to be something interesting about you."

Sasuke was silent for a moment. "I like tomatoes."

Sakura nearly fell over, but opted to sweat-drop. "Okay, that's a good start, what else?"

"I want to be a ninja." He added deftly.

"Anything else?" Sakura was trying not to pry, but it was really hard when there was an opportunity to learn more about the enigmatic Sasuke.

He was silent. "No." He answered evasively.

Sakura was opening her mouth for another round of questions, and Sasuke was looking grim as he saw her mouth opening, knowing she was going to ask more and was actually almost regretting his decision to tie them up together when something stopped them.

"Uchiha!"

"Sasuke!"

Sakura and Sasuke both looked up, and saw a lazy Shikamaru, and Hyuga Neji trailing over to them, one being lazy and lagging behind, the other jogging to meet them. Typical for the two Gennin.

"Hello." Neji greeted, probably the polite aspect of him.

"Yo." Shikamaru's lazy voice came.

Sasuke nodded his head in greeting. The two looked at Mamiko, not realizing she was Sakura, and gave Sasuke a questioning look.

"This is Mamiko." Sasuke said bluntly. "We're tied together by a jutsu." He added quickly to avoid questioning.

"You're the one who tied us up." Sakura added under her breath, but Neji heard it.

"Why are you here?" Typical Sasuke, as blunt as usual in front of the Hyuga and Nara.

"It's about Naruto."

Sakura perked up when Neji said this.

"We were looking for him."

Sasuke snorted. "He's always at Ichiraku."

"We checked." Shikamaru replied. "He's not there."

"Isn't he on a date with Hinata?" Sakura questioned when she realized that she nearly blew her cover entirely.

Neji raised a brow accusingly. "How do _you_ know Hinata-sama?"

"A friend of mine." Sakura answered evasively, but Neji's and Shikamaru's skeptical glares didn't fade.

"Never mind." Sasuke changed tact quickly. "What about him?"

"His surname." Shikamaru reminded. "We don't know how, when, where… you get it, we don't know anything about him."

"For all we know, the Naruto-the dead-last we've always know-may be entirely different." Neji explained.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "You couldn't mean-

"If he is the Yondaime's son, this could change everything." Shikamaru went on. "He may or may not be powerful, but from what we've concluded, Naruto himself has the ability to surpass the Yondaime himself."

"That's almost unbelievable." Sasuke protested.

Neji nodded in agreement. "It is, but it's not improbable. If a direct descendant of the Yondaime; with the stamina that Naruto posses (they don't know about the kyuubi) he could wipe out more Iwa-nins than even his father."

Sakura was rather lost, and didn't need to fake the confusion on her face. Naruto? Yondaime's son? What were they on to? Could Naruto really be that strong?

"Err… what are we talking about?" Sakura was completely lost.

"Nothing." Sasuke said quickly. "But we definitely need to find Naruto."

He pulled the two of them up using the placed jutsu, and nodded at Neji and Shikamaru, the four of them sped off, using their enhanced speed to find Naruto quickly.

The four were leaping over buildings, which was rather hard when she had to be exactly with Sasuke so she wouldn't trip. Neji had his byakugan on, and was looking around for the signature chakra that Naruto possessed.

"There!" Neji pointed over to the forest.

"Figures," Shikamaru sighed. "The perfect date place. What a drag."

"Are you sure it's okay for us to interrupt his date?" Sakura questioned to the others. "I mean, that's rather impolite." She added quickly as an afterthought.

"It's too late for politeness." Shikamaru sighed.

"Screw politeness." Neji snapped. "I want to know what the hell is going on." His eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Hn." Apparently Sasuke agreed, reverting back to his mono-symbolic system of language.

The three landed in the trees, each hopping down with excellent skill, only one of them gave a noisy sigh. (guess who?) The other two males looked at Shikamaru with glares. If Naruto was as great of a shinobi as they thought him to be, he would have known they were there from just that.

"Idiot." Neji hissed.

Sakura was rather lost in the entirety of this situation, and just went along. The four hopped onto the forest floor, walking a short distance before seeing Naruto's trademark outfit, Hinata next to him. The two seemed to be having a great time. Sakura felt bad for interrupting Hinata's first real date with Naruto.

But Sakura could only watch as Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Neji approached the two (stingy of them isn't it?) and the laughter stopped as Naruto noticed the four of them, even before Hinata's eyes could spot them.

"Can I help you?" Naruto's voice sounded so much older, and more clam than it usually did, Sakura noticed.

Neji didn't back down from Naruto's glare. "We want to know something, Uzumaki."

"Or should we say," Shikamaru smirked. "Kazama?"

Hinata, oddly enough, did not seem the least bit surprised at the information, meanwhile, Sakura was nearly about to faint from what Shikamaru said. Kazama? Like, Kazama Arashi????

"What do you want?" Naruto frowned. "I'm in the middle of something."

"We want information." Neji said simply.

Naruto frowned again. "Well that's too bad."

Before the four could stop them, or rather Sasuke, Neji, and Shikamaru, Naruto and Hinata disappeared in a swirl of leaves, the trademark of Konoha. Sakura gulped as she saw the looks from the other three, and pulled her hand close to her in defense. It was then she realized that she was no longer under the jutsu.

Apparently, Sasuke realized as well because he reached out to her, but wasn't fast enough. Sakura too disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving an extremely furious Sasuke.

* * *

Sakura walked up to the apartment, well aware of the loud machinery noises that were coming from her floor, courtesy of Ino, who decided they were in need of an elevator. She trudged up the wall with her chakra control, and came to her floor.

Ino was texting Shikamaru apparently, from the way she'd lift her hand when she giggled, and it looked like TenTen was daydreaming about Neji from the happy and blissful look on her face. Meanwhile, next to them, the workers raved on, their metal tools hitting the concrete in a terrible mix.

"What up Sa-chan?" Ino called over the construction workers. "You look down."

"Like hell I'm down." Sakura sighed. "I've had a terrible day, I lost my medical books, and I'll need to pick them up, and a day spent with Sasuke didn't help, not to mention my life is filled with unraveling secrets."

Sakura decided to spare her two friends the details, closing the door to her apartment and hoping the two would get the clue and give her the third degree. Hopefully, but knowing said pig that wasn't happening. For safety precautions, Sakura locked her door before flopping down on her bed.

* * *

_Well Sakura's sure tired. And the plot only thickens as Hapless Romantics nears its end. But I will have a bonus 'S' chapter for the missed s in hapless. Review!!!!!! .::tsuzuku::. _


	13. T

_I updated! So you guys better review! Sorry if this chapter is rather short, but I'm in a rush, and I still have a good two stories to update too! _

Sasuke was unbelievably worried. As an Uchiha, he shouldn't show emotions, but his emotions were getting the better of him. Naruto has fled, probably doesn't want the attention that comes when you discover that he is the Yondaime's only legacy left. And Sakura…. Well… Sasuke had no idea where Sakura was.

He tried to corner Hinata into telling him, but Neji told him to back off. He said that Sasuke shouldn't pressure Lady Hinata into this, and he should use his 'great' shinobi skills to find Sakura himself.

He didn't want to ask Sakura's parents, because that would only frighten them.

He hadn't seen Ino in a while, and was too scared of what Neji would do if he asked TenTen, and Naruto was nowhere in sight. Giving him no leads to just where Sakura might be, he had no idea that Sakura was this good at hiding herself. Which is rather amazing, because of that pink hair of hers.

But aside from Sakura, there was Mamiko.

It was rather suspicious that Mamiko suddenly popped up when Sakura suddenly disappeared. Rather suspicious indeed… But when Sasuke even mentions the name Sakura, Mamiko doesn't seem to know. But Sasuke noticed the distinct relation of the two.

Emerald eyes, long beautiful and well tamed hair, a charming forehead, and pale complexion with ruby lips; they were so similar to each other that it couldn't be coincidental.

Which led Sasuke to believe one thing; the two just had to be…. Cousins!

That's it, relatives of sorts, so he just had to once again find Mamiko, and get her to tell him where Sakura is. Sadly, finding Mamiko is rather hard, because the girl has the same ability as Sakura to disappear suddenly and easily.

Which is why Sasuke is standing in front of the apartment complex right next to Neji's scowling.

He trudged up the stairs, immediately noticing the buzzing noise that came from the floor that Ino, TenTen, and Sakura lived upon. A part of the stair well was taken out, and they seemed to be building an elevator.

When he finally reached whatever (wasn't paying attention) floor they lived on, he noticed Ino immediately.

"Ino!" He called out, and said pig looked over at him.

She seemed delighted. "Sasuke-kun!" She greeted.

He gave a skeptical look at the surroundings. "What the hell is happening here?"

Ino gave a practiced smile. "Ha, well there building an elevator! Isn't that great?"

"Why would you need an elevator if you're a ninja?"

"Uh…well…" Ino really didn't know. "Actually, that's exactly what Sakura said…weird..."

"Sakura? So she's here then!" Sasuke gripped her shoulders, and Ino squealed. "Where is she?"

Ino waved her hands up in defense. "I don't know! I think she's at um… her parents! She's at her parent's house!!"

"Where's that?"

Ino shrugged pathetically. "Like I would know where that is."

Sasuke frowned again, but said nothing. He looked around the apartment complex; this search wasn't going very well. Sakura proved to be quite an elusive person when she chose to be. She was always there, as if just background noise, but when she's gone you easily tell the difference.

And now he felt rather pathetic that he missed her.

He hadn't seen her in maybe a week, preoccupied with Naruto and Mamiko to realize she was gone, and then she is, and he felt miserable. He hadn't even realized he liked Sakura all that much.

He turned around, strolling down the stairs with ease, Ino watching him leave from afar. "That idiot, I don't believe him."

-----------------------

TenTen held back a sigh, what a bleary movie. She wished it could be more interesting true, but the real excitement was not on the screen, but right next to her. Who cared if it was a corny soap opera, and neither of them liked it, it was just great to be there.

Neji however, was enjoyable company.

There was a secure arm around her shoulder, and a chest to lean into. It felt great to know that there was someone for you, hell, she was sure of it. But sadly, the movie had to end, even if she wasn't paying much attention.

The two exited the theatre in the large crowd, holding hands (TenTen blushed uncontrollably.) and found themselves in a crowded street.

She looked up, still holding Neji's hand, and saw a few clouds gathering in the sky.

"Hmm…" She looked up, worried. "It wasn't this dark when we got into the movie house."

Neji nodded his head. "I suggest we head to a coffee house, it may begin to rain."

TenTen nodded, letting Neji lead them to…well wherever he was going. Perhaps a poetry club, they seem to visit those things daily. Neji has a weird obsession with poetry, proven by the many poetry books on his shelves (although usually used just to cover up his porn)

She caught a glimpse of swaying auburn hair in the wind, idly wondering who it was. She stole a glance, but only made out a long white skirt, a white shirt, and long wavy auburn tresses. _Sakura…?_

She didn't have much time to gawk and stare, the poetry club was closing in fast.

-----------------

"M-Mamiko!" Sasuke gasped out, hands on his knees as he gaped for breath.

"Eh?" She turned around against the wind, her auburn hair flying about. "Sasuke-kun? What are you doing here?"

"I…" He gasped for breath. "Am looking for Sakura."

She looked a little confused at this, more for the reason that he was looking for her. "Uh…"

"Y-You wouldn't know her." He chided, leaning against the railing of the bridge in the center of the park.

There were cherry blossom leaves scattered around in hues of pink, and a dark sky and a brown wood bridge. Her hair flew about in the wind, and her skirt flowed gently. She didn't say anything, but smiled warmly at Sasuke, she hadn't known he was looking for her.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go and-

As Sasuke turned around, she grabbed his hand. He looked back, her eyes were nearly pleading. She had to tell him…that… he wouldn't be able to find Sakura because…

"Sasuke I-

BOOM!

The sky crackled, and a bolt of lightning shot into the distance, startling the both of them. It started as a few droplets, but slowly turned into an utter downpour. Cold water splashing over them, although the positions were reversed.

Sakura had Sasuke's hand, and Sasuke was looking back. But Sakura had to tell him, at any costs. It just wasn't right not to. To have Sasuke searching for the other person, when there is really only one person. It was…mean.

She felt something trickle down her face, and onto her hands.

She let go of Sasuke's hand, seeing as though he wasn't moving anymore. She looked at her hands, and her eyes widened in horror. Her hands were soaked in red. A deep crimson red.

It had been a week, and the pigment was up.

Her hair faded from a deep red to the natural pink, Sasuke watching it all with eyes widened. Sakura sniffed, and she felt her eyes water. She hadn't wanted this…she didn't want him to find out like this.

"Sasuke…" Her voice was barely a whisper. "Sasuke I-

"Sakura…you're Mamiko?!" Sasuke watching in realization as he realized why those emerald orbs looked so familiar.

"I'm so sorry." She turned around to leave, but Sasuke wouldn't let her get away.

He really didn't know what came over him, but he pulled her back, and pressed his lips to hers. Rain showered around them, and everyone had run for shelter, leaving deserted streets. The trees were in a hazy gray, like the rest of the world, a hazy gray. There was a faint splatter of rain on the koi pond below, but it was faint.

All she felt was Sasuke's warm lips, and not the frigid cold around them.

There were rivulets of water trickling down her cheeks, and she had a rosy blush, but she kept her eyes closed sensually. Her clothes felt sticky, and like a second skin, but she couldn't care. She wrapped her arms around his neck, playing with his raven locks.

The sensual kiss turned into a make-out session in the rain, almost animalistic and primal in all the sorts. Once soft and chaste, now almost fierce and primal. Sasuke's arms around her in a tight embrace, her hands in his hair.

They pulled away slightly, to gaze in each other's eyes, unaware of the sudden downpour that had occurred.

"Sasuke-kun I…" Sakura couldn't find the right words.

He gripped her harder subconsciously. "You're not running away from me again."

"I won't." She gave a bright smile, through the rain.

He gave a smile (or smirk) too. "Good then."

"But," Her cheery disposition faded. "We do have to talk."

"Hn."

"Don't give me that stupid 'hn' Uchiha!" She jabbed him in his chest. "I want to know something."

"What?"

"Does… this mean that we're a couple?" She asked him, rather shyly with a tinge of a blush on her cheeks.

He looked thoughtful, like he didn't know the answer. "I suppose."

She smiled again, before hesitantly closing the gap between their mouths. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all. She had expected that he would pull away, but he didn't, and the two shared another chaste kiss as Inner Sakura started squealing.

When they did pull away, she took a step away from him, still holding his hands, at this point she didn't care much for the rain, or what little of the dye that remained dripping down from her pink locks.

Sasuke momentarily blushed.

"What?" Sakura looked down, to where Sasuke's eyes were leading.

Her clothes were see-through, and you could see her pink bra. She blushed madly, covering her chest up with her hands.

"I'll take you home."

"Huh? Me? Wait a minute I-

She didn't have much time to react when Sasuke picked her up, and they disappeared in leaves. Apparently Sasuke had learned the technique at one point.

It wasn't raining anymore when they got home, and the workers were done for the day, so there wasn't anymore noise that made your ears crunch. The two walked up the few flights of stairs quietly, Sakura feeling rather uncomfortable in her wet outfit.

They reached her floor, and they went to the rather tacky green door that hid her apartment from sight. Sasuke had that emotionless face mask on again, and Sakura was rather sad to see it. He looked so…real when he had emotion.

"I'll se you at Kakashi's training right?" He asked her rather sternly, not letting her hand go.

"I suppose so." She smiled, opening her door. "See you… tomorrow then?"

Sasuke nodded, and she gave one last look at him before closing her door. She was greeted by the normality of her apartment. A cream sofa, pink window curtains showering around a window and a fish tank, a rather clean and sparkly kitchen, a TV and a coffee table, and a bedroom and bathroom door all the way to the hallway on her right.

She heaved a sigh, when the phone rang.

"Hello? Sakura Haruno speaking."

"_Oh Sakura, it's great to speak to you again."_

"Oh, hello mom."

"_Well…you see dear…"_

"What?"

"_It's quite simple…"_

…

…

Sakura put down the phone when her mother was done, rather annoyed at her. It wasn't that she had always hated her mother, but it was annoying to know how much the woman pried into her life.

"_Well after that Uchiha boy, I wasn't particularly sure if you were straight or not, so I arranged for you to meet this wonderful young boy. Honey, we did give you the talk right?"_

There was particularly good reason as to why Sakura had not spoken to her mother in quite a few years, and a reason why she moved out of the house. Her mother was obsessed with her love affairs. Absolutely obsessed.

She used to pick at Sakura's diaries to find out who she liked this time, and would always sneak about to watch her. Part of the reason she became a ninja, so she could tell when her mother was about or not.

But it was what she said at the last part that made her want to fall over.

"_I arranged for you to meet this great Hyuga boy; his name is Neji."_

Well, she better get to calling Neji, so that he doesn't get the wrong impression, TenTen too. And things with her and Sasuke were just starting to brighten up, why did her mother always have to meddle? What a…drag.

Hopefully her mother hadn't gone as far as to arrange a marriage.

_So now we have another humorous adventure for our heroine. What is she supposed to do? And how to explain to her mother (who hates Sasuke) that she is dating him? And how is she going to tell TenTen that her boyfriend needs to go out on a date with her? And what about Neji? How has he taken it? _

_::tsuzuku:: Review!!!!_


	14. I

_Here's your chappie! And since it is rather hard-or am I the only one finding it-to remember ever problem that has been going on simultaneously in HP(Hapless Romantics) I'll just post them right here-_

_:Neji date_

_:Her mother hates Sasuke(for unknown reasons)_

_:Naruto is somewhere…_

_:Workers are making ear-splitting noises_

* * *

TenTen held her scowl in check. She really had nothing against Sakura, one of her best friends, and she knew that it wasn't said pink-haired girl's fault that this happened. And that wasn't exactly what she was so mad about. It was the fact that, the little café that was nestled in a dreary corner of Konoha, with the neon light outlining a coffee cup picture that hung outside the door, was crowded today.

It was quaint, and small, with darkened old wood flooring, and small tables and chairs. A nice, yet rather plump, thirty-year old blonde in the kitchen, and a flustered auburn hair server were the only staff at hand.

They weren't use to such an outburst of customers.

And the irony was, TenTen realized, that she knew everyone here.

She already knew Sakura and Neji, who seemed to actually be getting along, aside from the fact that everyone else besides TenTen had to ply words out of Neji's mouth with tweezers. The two were immersed in a conversation of, what do you know, gardening. Because Neji had a green thumb, and everything Sakura tried to plant died.

And on the other side, were ironically Ino and Sasuke, who seemed to be having one of the worst times. Ino had a bored look on her face, stirring her coffee like it had a lot of interest, slouched over the table with a hand holding up her head. Sasuke was, nearly every few seconds, casting a glance over to Sakura and Neji, jealous no doubt.

Naruto and Hinata were here a few moments ago, but when everyone crowded about, they left. Hinata seemed very happy, and didn't stutter, nor pass out when Naruto held her hand.

And then there was her, sitting across from Lee, with a bored expression that could rival Ino's. Lee was babbling on about the ways of life, and how youthful everything was in the summer. Personally, TenTen didn't mind at all, she knew Neji was just being a gentleman, and seriously, she wasn't very jealous about a long-winded conversation about flowers.

"Oh…you have to put a stick for the Orchid to grow on?" Sakura took a bite of her coffee cake.

Neji sighed. "Of course, because the flower is too heavy for the stem, and it will fall off."

"Oh." Sakura blinked. "And do you always have to plant the plants in the ground? Because the nearest ground near my apartment is five stories down."

"Well no," Neji sipped his coffee. "But you should put them in a pot."

Sakura laughed softly to herself. "No wonder all the plants I have died."

"Ah Sakura, you aren't a bad gardener at all, you just don't know the basics." Neji smiled politely.

"But I still don't believe I have much of a green thumb-

The end of Sakura's sentence was cut off when the small bell at the top of the café jingled. Ino's eyes bulged, TenTen was looking out the window, Lee babbled, Sasuke glared at a table not to far away, Neji and Sakura looked up, and the staff nearly groaned. The door creaked open, slightly slow, and the old worn out bell chimed ever louder. The old metal bar that was used to open the door, rusted slightly, pushed open, and the old, dark brown wood of the door cracked when the person opening accidentaly hit the metal pole.

The male of the two blinked. "Oh…what is everyone doing here?"

Sakura wondered this too. "Did someone plan for all of us to meet here?"

"Fate." Neji supplied helpfully.

"Oh lord." TenTen groaned, covering her ears for the inevitable screaming that was to come.

"The lord is a nice person TenTen." Lee reminded. "You shouldn't use his name in vain."

"Shut up Lee you sound like a talking bible."

"SHIKAMARU?!?!"

Ino stood up from her chair, all boredom lost in a mere few seconds. Sasuke took the greatest hit, flinching and clamping his hands over his ears. TenTen already knew she was well prepared, and Lee nearly fell out of his chair. Sakura was used to it, but Neji nearly choked on his coffee.

"Not so loud…" Sasuke whispered to her, clearly annoyed.

"Tch, so troublesome." Shikamaru groaned.

Ino seemed to regain her composure. "Who's that?"

"A friend of mine I met yesterday." Shikamaru, being a genius he added: "I thought that since you're here with chicken hair (Sasuke) that I might as well try not to spend my afternoon being as you call it, a lazy ass."

Whatever questions Ino had were quieted, and she smiled politely. "Enough of that, you are?"

The other blonde blushed quickly. "Err… I'm Temari… you?"

"Me?" Ino gave another laugh. "I'm Ino, nice to meet you."

_Girls…_ Shikamaru sighed. _I'll never understand them._

Ino introduced everyone in the café, seeing as though she knew all of them, before sitting back down across from Sasuke, who was still brooding, a frown still on his face. She stirred her coffee, her blue eyes twinkling. Sakura shot a weary look at her best friend, but said nothing, turning back to talk with Neji.

And Shikamaru could feel stares on him as he sat down, Temari next to him. No one was dressed like ninjas, not even Neji. They all looked like…almost normal teenagers.

A rather flustered waitress, dressed in jeans, and a light pink apron that matched the coffee sign outside came over, pulling back a strand of slightly curly auburn hair behind her ear.

"Hello," she said quietly, shifting a bit. "I'll be you server today. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Uh…" Temari scanned the menu. "Chocolate latte please."

"Just coffee for me."

The waitress nodded, scribbling down the orders in nearly un-readable handwriting on a pad of paper.

"Okay, I'll be right back with you orders." She gave a rather shy smile for a waitress, before scurrying off to Sasuke and Ino's table.

"Is everything okay over here?" She asked tentatively, shifting wait from foot to foot.

"Hn."

"Just dandy." Ino seethed, stirring her coffee even more rapidly.

She nodded again, heading over to the kitchen, opening the double doors.

"Hey sweetie." The chef called. "How's everything out there."

The waitress sighed, filling a cup with coffee. "Table 5 is smitten with jealousy."

The chef laughed, throwing her head back to the ceiling as she transferred cakes in the oven. "Ah, to be young again."

------------------

And when the day was over, Sakura's apartment was literally shaking. Almost an entire wall was pulled out, and part of metal walls were being constructed. She couldn't even hear her own thoughts with the entire racket the workers were causing. And the elevator just had to be right near her apartment.

The wall of her living room was pulled down, and although the workers were decent enough to put a plastic cover as a make shift wall so that dust doesn't enter her apartment, she could see, hear, and smell the work, that will continue on through the night.

She barged up to one of the workers, furious. "Excuse me, but this is my apartment and I don't know how I'm going to-

"Wait a sec' would you?" The worker brushed her off, calling for the other's to stop working.

They did, and they stopped there power tools to look at her, but Sakura was too angry to feel nervous with all the pairs of eyes eyeing her up.

"Look, that's my apartment, and there is no way I can sleep with all this noise!"

"Well were sorry missy." The closest one said. "But there's nothing else we can do. Do you have any friends that can help you out?"

Sakura thought for a moment, TenTen was right next to her, and her apartment wall was torn down too, but Ino…

"As a matter of fact I think I do." She smiled, going two doors down as the workers began their ensemble of racket all over again.

Ino's door had chipped ivy green paint that looked exactly like the rest of the doors in the apartment complex. She was two doors down, so the noise would probably still be loud, but at least her apartment had all the walls in tact. There was a gold knocker, probably knowing the landlord, it was fake gold and a cheep knock-off from Iwagakure. The entire apartment complex wasn't very luxurious, aside from the great view of the city. She knocked, and knocked, and knocked, until finally someone opened the door.

When the door slid open just a little, from what Sakura could see, the apartment was a mess, and Ino was only in a disheveled tank top and panties.

"Sakura?" She said, just loud enough for her voice to carry over the workers.

"Yes, this is Sakura." The pink-haired girl resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Can I sleep over? The workers have torn down my wall."

Ino shook her head. "Sorry, no can do."

"Oh come one Ino!" Sakura pleaded. "I have no one else to turn to! And there's now ay I'm going to sleep at the Hyuga's!"

"Look, I'd love to but…" Ino shifter on her feet. "Shikamaru's here, if you know what I mean."

"Oh…oh…oh!!!!" Sakura's lethargic naivety drained in realization.

"Exactly."

"Use a condom Ino." Sakura joked evenly.

Ino blushed. "Nothing like that!!!! Just a date!!!"

And she slammed the door shut in a laughing Sakura's face.

Her laughter fell as she grumbled, of all the rotten luck, she just had to be rather homeless on this particular day. There was no way she'd go back to her parents, as a newly turned fourteen year-old, it was embarrassing and she definitely wasn't after the nice little trick her mother decided to play on her. But then who…?

She stumbled into her apartment, eyes droopy, and the sun had long since set. She tried turning on the lights, knowing she'd see a handful of workers from the other side of the plastic-and quite see-through-make shift wall, only to find that none of her power was working. And when she went to the sink, neither was the water. All the food in her fridge was rotten, because there was no electricity to keep it cool.

She wanted to scream.

She was already stomping furiously, ignoring the wakes that woke with her feet. The entire apartment complex seemed to vibrate, more so than what the workers had already accomplished. The stomping ended when she reached her room, where nothing was untouched but it was so loud that she had trouble not flinching as the metal suspenders of the elevator screeched with a chain saw.

She was seething as she threw her clothes into a bag.

"Those god be damned mother fuckers, acting like god-damn Uchihas who think they run the place…." She screamed trailing off as the rest of her sentence was washed out by her scream.

"Eh…" She stopped herself suddenly. "That's it! I'll ask Sasuke!!!"

She mentally cheered herself for having such a brilliant plan. Packing her bags, light enough so that she didn't need to lug it around, but big enough to last a few days, she headed out to her 'boy friends' house-err…mansion. She had the feeling that it got lonely there, and maybe if Sasuke stopped staying there, where he had so many terrible memories, he would stop being as broody. But that was just her opinion.

Her feet padded quietly on the streets, no one out because it was so dark outside. Some late-night pubs were open, with drunken women and ANBU, and other ninja crowding around, wallowing in their pity, as drunks. She didn't mind, at least it was some noise, and company of a sort.

What really scared her was when she turned a corner and it was deathly quiet.

It reminded her too much of days long since passed. She never told anyone, because no matter how well she told the story; it wasn't as sad as Sasuke's or Naruto's. The two of them, had gone through so much worse than she could ever try to accomplish. It made her feel a little left out of this, "Angst Club" The two of them, Neji, and a few others seemed to have running.

But she knew, deep down, that she could never share her story like the boys did.

She figured that someone should have figured it out by now. Like Kakashi, or even Sasuke. But they never did, so she always gave them amused smiles when the asked-like she did with everyone who asked-about her hair.

Of course it was natural; she wouldn't turn it pink for no unexplained reason.

But the mother they always knew was a brunette. A meddlesome brown-haired women, who seemed to have connections with everyone since she was part of the council. Her father was a business man, with dark brown hair and lines near his mouth from all the smiles he gave. She knew her family, even though they weren't really her parents.

It wasn't that she didn't love them, she just…didn't acquaintance them as surrogate parents at all.

But she remembered how her parents were murdered, and never let it bother her.

People died all the time, who was she to say she was any different?

--------------------------------

_I'm writing in this because Kakashi says I should. _

_But I have nothing to write of importance. _

He looked at the thing with boredom. How was Sakura able to write in these things? They were such a damn nuisance. He had nothing he wanted to share, and nothing he wanted more to do then to kill Itachi. Everything he did was to get closer to his goal, to murder the man so that he could avenge his clan. Nothing else mattered to the now brooding in his room Uchiha, he crunched his hand into a fist, nearly braking the pencil he was using. It was all or nothing, he did everything for revenge.

_/Not true./_

There was that voice again, taunting him hollowly in the back of his mind. But it was right, not everything had been for his one true goal. And it was creeping up inside. There it was; that warm feeling that was so tightly knit into his chest, that he couldn't suppress it.

Glittering emerald eyes and cherry pink lips curved in a smile.

Why couldn't she have stayed a fan girl? Why did she have to extract his attention? He could have been fine, with her chasing after him like everyone else did; his personal army of girl who slobbered make up on to impress him. If she was like them, than this could have been prevented. But she wasn't, she had stopped her fan girl cheer, and had some how found a way to sneak into his heart from a closed back entrance.

No…he had to stop this before it went over his head.

Before he didn't have any more control over the warm feeling that rose in his chest.

It was pure coincidence that the door bell rang at that moment in time. And Sasuke frowned. No one came here anymore. He had never bothered to clean it up, and even though the rain had washed away the blood, and the dead bodies weren't there anymore, it was clear in his mind. He walked briskly out of his house-out of his room. Down the streets, and it didn't take very long until he reached the gates. They were tall, and frightening, the Uchiha symbol carved boldly into the stiff metal bars that came down from the top. They looked ominous when closed.

But when he opened them, he had the feeling they were left better off closed.

Her hair was tussled, that gave her an exuberant look that screamed in his mind "completely fuckable hair" and probably something that he didn't want to be screaming in his head. Her emerald eyes sparkled, her kissable lips turning into a small smile. A pink tank top with small strings that went over creamy shoulders, and a strap going down her shoulder, crisscrossing over her body to a back-pack on her waist. A rather short skirt and boots.

"Sasuke-kun." She smiled lightly, not the bright and cheery way that those fan girls do.

He let her in, wearily, not wanting to do anything stupid when they were all alone.

She supposed it was her fault, and a bit of Sasuke's fault for not cleaning up the place more. The crack that nestled itself in a way that was just poetic injustice near the gate, tripped her, and no matter how good of a ninja one might be it was one of those falls that were simply unavoidable. If Sakura was Shikamaru, she'd call it quite a troublesome fall.

But she fell, arms slightly in front of her, the ground heading up to her face quite fast.

That was of course, until her night in shining armor came to save her. Well, her knight that adorned a navy blue Uchiha shirt and khaki shorts. But his ninja reflexes had kicked in easily, and he caught her before she fell, sending both of them tumbling into concrete.

It was a wonder how fate loved to toy with them, with yet another intimate position that was not planned upon.

_I suppose I should take a page of Neji's book. _She growled to herself, trying to pick herself up off of Sasuke.

Of course, when she was in a sitting position, her face was as red as the tomatoes that Sasuke loved so much. And her face could only be rivaled by Sasuke's, that looked just as red as hers. And, just proving how predictable she can be during these situations, she got up, averting her gaze to the crack on the ground.

She gasped, helping him up. "I'm so sorry Sasuke-kun! I didn't mean to trip like that-

"It's okay." He told her evenly; even though he had a feeling it wasn't going to be for long.

"Um……well Sasuke-kun…." She struggled for words. "You see…-

It was as if on cue that there was a loud-ear splitting screeches that resounded through the entirety of Konoha. So loud, that the two of them flinched, even from all the way in the isolated Uchiha District. So loud, and utterly terrible, that Sasuke felt his brain shaking, as if it was splitting in two. Even Sakura, who had to deal with this every day was about to cry from the high-pitched wail.

"That." She clenched her teeth. "Is coming from MY apartment complex, and because they tore down my wall, I'm kinda stuck without a place to stay."

It wasn't that Sasuke didn't like Sakura; he just didn't trust himself enough to handle himself properly. Hell, he didn't even know what he did that made all the girls so attracted to him.

"What about Ino?" He asked as a last resort.

She shook her head, a light tint of pink on her cheeks. "She's….busy…"

Sasuke didn't question anymore. "………you could stay here…." He supposed it was probably why she came in the first place.

Her smile lit up. "Really? Thank you Sasuke-kun!"

Little did the Uchiha know just exactly what could possibly happen….

* * *

_Bwahahahaha! Cliff-hanger!!!! I seem to have a lot of them. And about the Naruto thing, it'll probably come up, and the sequel to HP(hapless romantics) is going to be HL(Hapless Lovers) _

_And the lemons-(momentarily dodges a batch of sour fruit thrown at her) will be eventually posted on livejournal(.)Com because this is rated T so I'll skip through it. Meh, if there will even be one! I doubt it. Their only fourteen._

_Although, there DEFINETELY is one in HL so don't worry! _

_::Tsuzuku:: Popo-chi!! HaplessRomantics:C:Honestly: _


	15. C

_Wow! 38 reviews, that's pretty high! I hope it continues on this streak here! Sorry I'm so late on this, but I have a special treat for you! I've got that bonus 'S' chapter that I told you would, so it'll be posted EXTREMELY soon, I mean like, a few hours. I didn't make it; it's like a little Omake thing I suppose…_

_-X-X-X-X-X- _

There are some things that are just absolutely inevitable. And then there are things that can be likely avoided when given the chance. The two of them, Sakura deciphered, are equally hard to understand and unbalanced in which is fair and which is not. Some things were inevitable, the fact she really doesn't have much of a clue who her parents were, and the fact their already dead. The fact Sasuke's clan was murdered.

Like said; inevitable.

And then there are the ones that just hit you smack in the face, and if you could find a usable time jutsu, you could avoid them easily. And this was one of those things that were probably better off left alone on the touchy matter, and followed up by a quick shot of whisky to douse the feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was something she wished whole-heartedly that she could have not ever taken a step into that house.

"Cheer up their Sakura," Ino was sitting next to her. "I'm sure it'll blow over."

Sadly, the sniffling Sakura doubted that would happen. "It's my fault Ino." She said, her voice muffled by the sweatshirt in her face. "I shouldn't have looked."

TenTen jumped up from her seat next to the couch. "It really isn't your fault! You didn't know that he was touchy about the subject!"

"Exactly, and Sasuke isn't the type to share what he wants to talk about and what not to; so you couldn't have known!" Ino agreed.

But Sakura had other ideas. "I….didn't even know he had a brother."

"And neither did the rest of us!" Ino insisted quickly, pressing her face near Sakura's. "It's.Not.Your.Fault."

"Then explain the feeling of guilt that's in my stomach." Sakura retorted from the sweatshirt tartly.

"You're going to have that either way." TenTen told her swiftly, sipping hot tea.

"And on the bright side," Ino added. "We've got this awesome room at the Hyuga's thanks to Hinata!"

"That is a good thing." Sakura agreed quietly.

Ino looked around, full of energy. "I wonder where our little princess is anyways."

"Talking to Naruto of course." TenTen snorted.

"I wonder what's up with the blond anyways." Ino added.

It felt good to hear their aimless chitchat, and to get away from the sinking feeling in her gut that always made its way there when she thought about stuff like this. She knew-deep down somewhere locked up- that maybe it wasn't really her fault, but she'd rather blame herself than Sasuke. She was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

She leaned her head back against the cool surface of their rented (or free) room in the Hyuga house. The compound was humongous.

Of course, when TenTen heard Hinata invited them, she was overjoyed. She had expected to see some small pictures of Neji as a kid, although there didn't seem to be any photos scattered around the house. The place was so plain and intimidating that they felt a little wary sleeping over there. Everything neat and clean, especially in the main Hyuga house. The dojos were perfect, and the wooden floors polished.

And lets not forget head of the clan-aka Hinata's father- who had this look from hell that made you so nervous Ino went into a coughing fit. TenTen held her gaze, probably to impress him enough for Neji, and Sakura just kind of looked at him strangely.

Something about those Hyuga eyes made her weary.

"Eh, you guys…" A quiet voice came from the doorway.

"Hinata-chan!" Ino smiled cheerfully, waving ever so slightly so that Sakura wouldn't be bothered by it.

"Hinata-chan?" Sakura sniffed, looking up from the oversized sweatshirt she was crying into at the moment.

The Hyuga gave a small smile. "How're you feeling Sakura-chan?"

"Not good." She sniffed. "Not good at all."

Hinata came over to her, rather motherly actually, patting her on the back. "S'okay Sakura-chan, true love conquers all."

That little saying probably came from the fact that her own love was one of those. Naruto an outcast, she the heiress of the Hyuga.

"Oh TenTen," Hinata called, looking up from Sakura. "Neji is over in the dojo with otou-sama."

TenTen jumped. "Oh Neji!"

She did a double take from her sprint to the dojo, looking at Sakura with a worried face. "Are you-?

"It's fine." Sakura forced a smile. "Go see him, he'll be happy."

She gave a weary nod, hurrying off to see her boyfriend, who was sparring with the clan head, amazing enough. Sakura let out a deep sigh; she had to be one of those big idiots who just goes around doing something completely stupid. Worse than Naruto, hell, not even Naruto could have pissed of Sasuke so much that he nearly throws him out of the house. He was such a puzzle she wondered when was the right time to just give up and move on…

The way he centered his life, it was pointing to revenge. It hurt Sakura to know that she was drawing him away from the thing he loved-no wanted- the most. The thought of killing his brother; it was the thing she never and never would want to take away from him.

She let out another defeated sigh, would she really want to give up this love so easily…? Was this the right decision…?

_Probably…_Even inner-Sakura seemed a bit down. _He's not that great, just get over him…_

"I think…" Sakura started, Hinata and Ino staring at her. "I think I'll stop."

Ino hesitated to talk. "Stop what?"

"Stop," Sakura gave a melancholy smile, her malachite eyes holding a sad tinge. "Loving him."

"Sakura…" Ino stared at her, worry in her blue eyes. "Why would you…"

"Because," She looked at the sweatshirt, crystalline tears stopping. "Because I can't love someone who will never love me back."

"But he does love you." Ino protested quietly. "He does, which is why he's pushing you away."

"I already distanced myself away from him." Sakura retorted tartly. "I was far, far away from his head, giving him space for revenge. But, he still pushed me away, out of his heart, and out of his life."

"I suppose." Hinata said aloud, a wise look on her face. "If that's how you'll think of it."

Sakura nodded; determination in her face. "It is."

"Then there's nothing stopping you from letting go." Hinata told her quietly.

"Hey wait a minute," Ino butted in. "Hinata what are you doing? Sakura shouldn't-

"If it's what she wants." Hinata interrupted. "Than that's good enough."

"Thanks for understanding my decision Hinata." Sakura smiled again, getting up from her seat.

"I think I'll go for a walk." She added, turning around, avoiding Ino's questioning gaze.

She left the guest room she and Ino were currently staying at.

"Hinata!" Ino whirled on the surprisingly calm girl. "What the HELL are you-

"If Sasuke really loves her," She closed her eyes. "Than he'll come back."

Ino began to see the Hinata's logic.

TenTen nearly face vaulted into the door when she didn't notice the last step. Why the Hyuga clan even had those stupid miniature stair cases was beyond her, but the entire layout was filled with it. Nearly ever wooden corridor was facing into an upwards motion, as if the entire place lead to the dojo from the front door to the opposing end. She grumbled, grasping her now hurt ankle before getting up. Neji should be in there, training with the Head of the Clan, which must be a definite honor. He seemed so excited when he first told her.

She wasn't sure if she was intruding though….

"Maybe I'll wait out here." She mumbled to herself, losing confidence as she heard the significant shuffling of feet.

She had yet to realize just how quiet the Hyuga fighting style was.

"Thank you, Hiashi-sama."

TenTen perked up as she heard footsteps, moving from sitting on the stairs (if they were long enough to be called so) and awaited the people who would be entering the hallway rather soon.

The Shoji door slid open noiselessly.

"Hello TenTen." Neji greeted coolly.

TenTen sweat-dropped. "How did you know that I was here?"

"Byakugan." Neji dead-panned.

"Oh, I should've known that huh?"

Neji smiled humbly. TenTen gave a sheepish laugh. And just as soon she thought that she had finally cracked into the boy, who had actually been smiling for the majority of the time she saw him, the slight smile turned into something of a frown, marring his features. She was tempted to frown at this too, but didn't want to upset Neji more than he was at whatever he was upset at. As confusing as that sounds.

"What's wrong?" She asked curiously, watching his frown deepen slightly.

Neji paused. "My Uchiha senses are tingling."

TenTen began to roll in peels of laughter.

"I mean that very seriously." Neji scowled. "That idiot did something extremely stupid didn't he?"

TenTen paused her laughter. "…Yeah, he and Sakura fell out."

Neji's eyes seemed thoughtful. "I have a feeling he's going to be sulking."

"Then cheer him up." TenTen advised. "And while you're at it, make sure he gets Sakura

back okay? She's been beating her self over it lately."

"Are you sure I-

"Go."

"Thanks for understanding." Another Neji smile-which is more like a slight upwards curving of the lip-, creased his features.

She laughed, waving to him as she headed back to the room. "Anytime."

As the Hyuga boy saw the last of the girl disappear down into another corridor, followed by a really loud curse of "Shit!" and a lot of tumbling over stairs, Neji's smile faded into a frown. He listened to the last of what he could hear, not bothering to turn on his Byakugan again as he didn't intent to stalk her. Her padding footsteps turned into light whispers, before he started growling.

"Stupid Uchiha, ruining my time." He grumbled, sliding the front door open with an audible snap, before heading to the Nara house.

-------------------------

"So, what did she do again?"

"Nothing."

Neji sighed again. "She had to do something for you to suddenly shove her out of the house."

The Uchiha bit back a growl. "It's none of your business."

The lazy Nara yawned from the other side of the bar. "Of course it does, out girlfriends have been complaining about this all night."

Neji sipped another cup of Shochu, which was doused in water to lighten the taste. "Just tell us."

The Uchiha kept his mouth shut firmly, and Shikamaru sighed again, drinking his sake like it was a shot glass. The bar was sticky, and the entire place reeked of cigarette smoke, worse over the people here were all drunk and rowdy. Everyone here a ninja; and most would have been considered under age if they weren't. But ninja had the right of passing against the law.

"Hey bartender." Shikamaru raised his hand. "This guy needs more beer."

"No I don't." Sasuke grounded out, tight-lipped and arms crossed.

Shikamaru gave him a what-the-hell look. "I have the feeling you won't tell us unless you're extremely drunk. Troublesome."

Sasuke growled, but said nothing more.

"This is getting annoying." Neji scowled, eyeing the distinctly colored alcoholic drink bottles. "Unless she's two-timing you, or insulted you, or perhaps blew up your house, than there really isn't much of a reason you should be so mad at her.

Sasuke remained tight-lipped. Staring at the stone the bar was made out of.

Neji propped himself onto the counter, looking over the extremely depressed remaining Uchiha and his beer bottle to look at the Nara. A look of genius crossed his eyes, as Neji signaled something to the lazy genius, who then leaned back in his char. Sasuke seemed too lost in his thoughts to notice what was happening. As Shikamaru careened into position, Neji waved the bar tender over.

"Why's it so bright in here?" Neji whined, as much as he didn't want to. "Could you dim the lights?"

The bartender raised a questioning brow, but otherwise moved the switch near the far end of the bar, hidden by beer labels and glasses. As if on cue, the blue-tinted lights that resembled a terrarium were dimmed, shadows crossing over the bar.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "What the hell are you-?

Shikamaru placed a hand seal, his shadow latching onto Sasuke's, who now stood broad stiff.

"Drinky Drinky." Neji propped his head onto the bar, as Shikamaru began to drink his sake, and Sasuke began to drink his beer, not willingly. "I just hope you can hold you liquor Shikamaru."

A look of irritation crossed Shikamaru's face, but that was all.

…

And that was how Neji and Shikamaru got an extremely slurred and inebriated version of what happened and as to why the many of them were in the current situation they were. It's easy to say that both Shikamaru and Neji were rather peeved to realize that Sasuke had made such a potent deal out of a measly question about his brother and a detour into the wrong room, but alas, no one had said that the Uchiha's psychological health was top notch.

------------------------------------------

Ino gave a bored look at the magazine she was reading. "When do you think Sakura's going to be back?"

Hinata didn't answer, staring placidly at her bedroom wall.

"Hinata-chan?" A frown marred Ino's features. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Hinata sighed. "I'm just a bit worried about Naruto-kun."

"Oh, because he's Yondaime's son?"

Hinata nodded. "He hadn't intended for us to find out, actually, he hadn't intended for anyone to find out. Not even the villagers or the shinobi knew, only the Hokage."

"It must've been a hell of a secret then." Ino commented dryly.

"Well Yondaime had a lot of enemies. If they found out that he had a son, Naruto would have been the target of a lot of assassinations." Hinata explained quietly.

"And that's why he's kept everything a secret?" Ino pondered, eyes wandering to the ceiling. "I wonder if there's more to him than meets the eye…"

Hinata bit back a reply, Ino was her friend, but she couldn't betray Naruto's trust like that. No, she loved the boy too much to ever think of that. Instead she simply gave a knowing smile, lavender eyes filled with guilt, but it was unknown to the magazine-reading blonde, who stared into her magazine as she talked absent-mindedly.

"Everyone has their secrets." Hinata smiled knowingly.

"I suppose your right," Ino's eyes had a gleam. "That's why I'm so nosy! I find everyone's secrets!"

Hinata sweat-dropped when she heard it. _That's very like you, Ino-chan, I just hope…for your sake that you don't go snooping into this one…_

"So back to the first question, when's Sakura-chan coming back? Walks don't take that long do they?"

"I really don't know, maybe she's just spending her time thinking…"

----------------------

"Why is it so dreary outside?" Sakura sighed to herself, balancing on a rock.

The meadow was beautiful, with so many colors of wildflowers that she didn't understand how people hadn't found out about the place. The sky hues of gray, mesmerizing her in the depths of blues and grays. That was, until she forgot she wasn't breathing, and quickly inhaled. This was it, the perfect place to just sit and relax, to forget about whatever was bothering her. And it wouldn't be the first time she would think here, where she was all alone.

Her gaze wandered over to the grand oak tree.

Well, not entirely alone.

"I know your there." Sakura called to the tree. "Ironic that we're always here at the same time."

"I'm always here." Was her monotone reply.

She smiled to herself. "What's up your ass? You seem less human than you do usually."

"…"

This had Sakura worried when she didn't have a sarcastic remark shot back at her.

"Really, what's wrong-?

"I'm not human."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura laughed, melodically like it was a piece of music. "Of course you are! Sure you might not act like you're capable of emotions but-

"I wasn't speaking metaphorically." The red-head from the other side of the tree cut her off. "I am not human."

"Well okay then." The fresco haired girl frowned a bit. "I hope I'm not supposed to fear you, because really, I don't think I'm capable of shaking in fear if your try to shoot me with one of those glares if I've already met you and you really don't seem that bad and-

"You ramble don't you?"

She blushed. "Sorry."

"Don't be. It's cute."

"….If you say so…."

"…"

"So," Sakura leaned on the other side of the tree, hands pressed in the bark. "What are you then?"

"A Jinchuuriki."

"Okay you lost me."

"A Jinchuuriki is someone who is sacrificed to a demon, and becomes a demon holder."

"So you're a Jinchuuriki?"

"Yes."

"Which demon do you have?" She brushed her fingers on the tree leaves, slowly.

"Shukaku."

She smiled broadly suddenly. "I'm still not very scared."

"Then you are very brave."

"Actually I'm not." She still smiled, eyes closed. "I mean, I run away from my problems and go here, I can't be particularly brave can I? It's just; I'm not scared of you. Your not a demon at all, you're a human being with a demon inside of them. There is a difference."

"…"

The tension was a bit nerve wracking. "Well, why are you here?"

"I could ask the same question."

She sweat-dropped. "Your not going to answer that, are you?"

"…"

"I'm here because…" She trailed off, blinking in thought. "Because I'm letting go of something, something that's really important to me, but I have to, because it's just going to hurt me even more in the long run."

"…"

"I'm not sure if you get that, but… I just don't think I can handle it anymore. It was better when he just flat out refused me, than it is when he seems to toy around with my feelings, because he's unsure of his own. I'm better off just forgetting him." She closed her eyes in defeat. "Water under the bridge, ne?"

She heard the soft crunching of grass, and she cracked her emerald eyes open a bit. Slowly, the flutter of eyelashes revealed a green as deep as the sea. She pushed herself off the tree she was leaning on, tilting her head slightly as she heard the soft pluck of a flower being retrieved.

The red-headed boy that resembled a panda, holding a colorful little daisy in his hands. It looked as if it didn't fit the picture. He looked but he had a pretty little flower, in all its innocence.

She raised a brow as she stared at the flower, and back at him. "What-?

"Take it."

She delicately took the flower, fingers brushing his lightly.

"Come."

It was a demand, and she felt a bit sheepish, following him into the meadow. What was he playing at anyways? She thought idly to herself, reading the weird script that looked like graffiti on his gourd.

They stood, side by side, as the wind blew her hair wildly from behind her, the flowers flowing delicately in the breeze. The grey skies giving an omen of bad weather, the wind picking up as the enormous gray giants moved over the sky.

She twirled the flower in nervousness.

"That," He turned to her. "Is love."

"Love?" She echoed, looking at the flower, she didn't remember Ino telling her Daisies meant love…

"If you really are letting it go, then you shouldn't care about the flower, just toss it into the wind."

Sakura gulped, looking at the flower in a new light. Tentatively, she lifted the flower high in front of her, watching it with unknowing jade eyes. She bit her lip, hand shaking, the white flower blowing in the wind. She shouldn't be holding it still…

"Why…" She mumbled, hand shaking. "W-Why can't I let it go?"

Gaara didn't reply, so she continued.

"I-I should be able to…. It's just a flower….some stupid flower…." Tears lined her almost abnormally green eyes, her entire hand shaking.

"Why?!" She sobbed to herself, wiping away crystalline tears. "I just can't let it go…"

The sand Jinchuuriki had a knowing look. The fresco-haired girl sobbed quietly to herself, wiping the tears away with her other hand, the one holding the flower refusing to let go, even when it was shaking. It might be subconscious instincts that made her keep the flower, or it could be just the fact that she knew she loved him, and really didn't want to let go. Either way, it took a long while before she actually had the courage to bring her hand down, a different kind of sadness written on her face.

"…I think I'll go back." She sighed eventually, twirling the flower in her hands.

Amazingly, Gaara's lips seemed to curve into something that resembled a genuine smile, but it could just be her imagination.

"Arigatou, Gaara-nii." She laughed, brushing breezy hair from her face, before she took off.

He saw a flicker of pink, before it disappeared into the tree line.

To say he was confused would be an understatement. "Gaara-nii???"

-------------------------

She ran-no sprinted through forests and meadows alike. Clutching the daisy with what seemed to be a grip harsher that Tsunade's herself. A happy lop-sided grin on her face that only seemed to come when she was carefree. Her legs carrying her all the way to the Hyuga Compound and she wasn't even breaking a sweat. There was something; that seemed to be carrying her. She opened the door with an audible snap that the maids looked up at, to see a panting cherry blossom. She only took a few seconds before she sprinted off again.

She slammed the shoji door open, to Hinata's room.

They stared with weird looks when she held a flower.

"I'm not going to give up." She smiled brightly, holding the flower. "No matter what, even if it is stupid."

Hinata smiled, along with Ino.

_So this is kind of like the grand finale before the ending thing. And yes, there is a sequel, and probably another one after that, just because I like trilogies better than just sequels XD But whatever, review for me please! _


	16. S::

_Okay…I've got the PERFECT name if I do have a trilogy, but…I don't know what the last one would be about XD Although I do know what Hapless Lovers (HL) will be, so it might actually just be a sequel. Maybe an Epilogue or something like that. _

_Ha-ha, my first jukebox tune, like the thing the author suggests you listen to kinda thing? Yeah, you really don't have to listen, but if you want to, you can it's what I've been listening to the entire time. _

* * *

Fidget…Fidget…

Fidget…Fidget…

Fidget-

"Sakura stop it! That's annoying!"

"I'm sorry!" She turned to her friend. "It's just…I can't find him anywhere!"

"Training?" Ino supplied.

"Maybe he's studying."

"Or he could be rekindling lost love between him and Naruto-

THUMP

"Ow! Jeez, take a joke Hinata-chan!" TenTen rubbed her head, still stifling giggles.

"Hinata's right, we're not joking here!" Sakura grounded out, pacing. "If we don't find Sasuke soon-I won't have time to talk to him before the Chuunin Journeymen Exams!"

"Why don't you just talk to him there?" Ino questioned, idly swinging her feet on the chair she was sitting on.

"A test Ino." TenTen rolled her eyes. "Means no talking."

"Of course you probably wouldn't notice the difference."

"What the HELL does that mean?!"

"ENOUGH!" Sakura growled out. "None of you are helping, so I'm going to find him myself!"

The coffee shop seemed to absolutely still at the outbreak of noise, people abruptly stopping their chatter. Even Sakura seemed remotely aware of her loud outbreak, and had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. Hinata squeaked, trying to duck herself under the table and hitting her head in the process, TenTen groaned, and Ino looked around nervously.

"Sorry.." Sakura said, softer, sitting back down in her chair.

"Idiot!" TenTen hissed from behind her coffee cup.

"I've got an idea." Hinata piped up. "Go look for Naruto."

"Yeah, Yeah!" Ino agreed. "They're like, BEST friends, I'm sure he'd know, right?"

"Your right!" Sakura raised her hands in triumph. "Just, where is Naruto anyways?"

"Well, I don't really know." Hinata confessed.

"You…don't?"

"I thought you were his girlfriend!"

"I don't have to keep tabs on him all the time." Hinata reminded. "I'm a girlfriend, not a maid."

"So I suppose I'll have to go looking for Naruto, and then look for Sasuke?"

"Something like that."

"Great…"

------------Hapless Romantics---------

"If I were Sasuke, where would I go….." She hummed to herself, as if it was a tune. Truly, she didn't know where to start looking for Sasuke.

"Well if I were Naruto I would-

NARUTO!!!!!!

The blonde choked on his ramen. "S-S-Sakura-chan! H-How did you-

"That's a really REALLY terrible henge Naruto." The pink-haired Gennin sighed.

Naruto gave a very Naruto-like laugh, rubbing the back of his head.

"But seriously Naruto, I-

"I'm sorry, okay?" There was a sad tinge in his blue eyes. "I would have told you…but I didn't know what you would say I mean, it's not every day that someone you've known all your life happens to be the Yondaime's son so I didn't want to freak you out. And you know….there are a lot of people who are going to KILL me if they find out so I did want you to be used against me! And you know, I was afraid you wouldn't think of me the same if you knew. I know, it's all my petty fears-

"Naruto?"

"…Yeah?"

"I was just going to ask you if you knew where Sasuke was."

Naruto laughed sheepishly, cheeks tinged pink in embarrassment. "…oh…"

"But still," She popped into the chair next to him. "I really don't mind, it's a really big secret, and it's only natural that you wouldn't want to tell us so soon y'know? It's fine."

Naruto smiled broadly. "Thanks for understanding, Sakura-chan."

"Oh, of course!" She grinned back. "But you gotta tell me where Sasuke is."

"Well…." He laughed sheepishly. "I don't exactly know where he is…"

"WHAT?!?!" Sakura gaped at him. "But he's like you BFF, Best Friends, Eternal Rivals, Forever Buds, the list goes on and on!"

"He's not my soul mate or anything." Naruto slurped his ramen, a sour look on his face. "I don't know where he is at all times."

Sakura moaned. "So I've got to look all over for him again!"

"Seems so!"

"You don't have to be so jolly about it!" She growled back at him.

CRACK

"Ow Sakura-chan! That hurt!"

She gave a small smile, as if she was happy in the normality in all of this. She released the tight ball her fist was in, as Naruto began to rub his now sore head from on the ground. She brushed herself off with her fingers, green eyes still dancing. Naruto seemed to catch on to her smile, and he too smiled wistfully. He followed in suit and got up, brushing off dirt and still rubbing the sore spot nestled between locks of sun-kissed hair.

"Good luck, Sakura-chan." He smiled sincerely.

"Thanks!" She waved, running into the distance.

Wind passed by her, in a mixture of a cool breeze and the summer humidity, people watched her go, some amused, others annoyed at the fact she pushed herself through people. She wasn't really looking at where she was going anyways, just running in whatever direction, looking for the Uchiha. She was running right to the direction of the Uchiha district.

_He's bound to be there-_

BUMP

"Oh I'm so sorry-

Sakura began, still holding her sore head, viridian eyes looking into similar yet rather lifeless jade eyes.

"G-Gaara-nii!" She nearly shouted, stumbling backwards.

"I find it amusing you still call me that." He had an amused smile on his face.

She blushed hotly. "Hate to break the moment, but I happen to be in a hurry?"

"Hurry?" He echoed. "No where could little Sakura be in a hurry to?"

"Stop teasing me!" She frowned, hands on her hips childishly. "I've got to find Sasuke-kun?"

"So you took my words to heart I see." He had a smirk she was beginning to think was annoying.

But the only thing she could opt for was a, "So?"

"That's a good thing." He chided her easily.

"…..oh…" She found herself feeling foolish. "Well, do you know where Sasuke is?"

He raised a non-existent eye brow. "How would I know where that brat is?"

She huffed. "Well sorry for asking."

Although he knew she wasn't mad at him, it was amusing to him to watch her face contort into a maze of emotions, maybe because he wasn't able to do that himself.

"I'm off to the Uchiha district! I gotta find him!" She called over her shoulder, a rather large lop-sided grin on her face.

"Good luck." He told her, watching her pink hair flow in the wind.

Meanwhile…Just a little while later…

"WHAT THE HELL?!?!?"

She slammed the door so fast it made a snapping door as splinters of wood sprayed everywhere.

"He's not here either!"

--

There was a small drip of water, from the last night's rain. A slow and steady dripping noise, as water fell from the top of the house down into the cemented sidewalk. It was starting to drive the Uchiha mad. Now why the Uchiha was at this certain house, with a batch of roses in his hand, was another question entirely. It was something he had never done, and hadn't planned on ever doing. HE was the bachelor, not the person who stands around chasing after some bachelorette.

"Is anyone even in there?!" He sighed to himself, defeated.

He checked her apartment.

He checked Ino's, and TenTen's…and even got Neji to look into the Hyuga mansion.

He checked the roof of the apartment complex.

He even checked Ino's flower shop.

Sakura wasn't anywhere.

And even now, in this old Japanese styled house, in the countryside, where there were fields and fields of sugar canes, and over sized gardens, deep delphinium skies, and little transportation, the house of Sakura's parents.

Although from the looks of it, they weren't home.

So Sasuke was left to sit around on the front porch, the house surrounded by a moat where there was a fish hatchery. It was so god damn hot out here that he had to circulate chakra around him to keep cool. Although really, the scenery from the dirt road was beautiful, just rolling hills of farm land. Hell, Sasuke hadn't even known what Rice Country was until he found out Sakura's parents lived there.

She wasn't kidding when she said her parents lived in the middle of nowhere.

A breeze past him by, one of the few that seemed nearly non-existent and felt so good, but it really didn't last.

"Is all this land really the Haruno-san's?"

"Haruno-san?" A raspy voice came from behind. "Afraid not. This is the Tachibana's land."

Sasuke whirled around, greeted by a farm worker. "Tachibana-?

"Yes, nearly all of rice country is owned by them." The worker replied easily, leaning on his rake. "There super wealthy, and I hear they've got a daughter."

Well…As the worker left, the only thing he did was make Sasuke even more confused. He watched the back of the farmer, his straw hat fading into the distance as he entered the fields. Really, it may have helped if Sasuke knew where he was, it could have been a better alternative if he just went and found Ino and asked where Sakura was instead of going to her parent's house…

"Ugh…. Where is she!?!! And how do I get out of this place?!?!"

--

"What?!" Sakura panted. "Where is he?"

"I'm sorry." The librarian shrugged, nervously shifting her weight. "I haven't seen Uchiha-san all day."

"Damn." Sakura grounded out, swiftly turning her heel to go find Sasuke.

She briskly passed by other people, busy with there own errands in the library to notice the scowl marring her pretty face. She pushed through double glass doors, a scowl on her features. She didn't exactly know where she was going, as she wandered the streets in a rather annoyed way, with edgy corner cuts and angry stomping of feet.

She nearly crunched a pole as she flattened a straight path of fury.

"Is he purposely avoiding me?!?!" She screamed into the street, people turning to look at her curiously.

She hadn't bothered to even say sorry.

Instead, she kept turning streets, waiting at street lights, passing in crowds, like a normal person. She hadn't expected for the Uchiha to search her out, so she never bothered to stay in one place, running around the busy city streets of Konoha like an annoyed wife, passing by tall skyscrapers, her own apartment, and even the Hokage tower.

"Wait, is that-?

"Sakura-chan! How nice of you to stop by!"

"H-Hello Yamanaka-san." She greeted politely, standing in front of the Yamanaka flower shop counter. "I hope I'm not intruding or anything-

"Oh dear, you're always welcome here." The mother chided quickly. "How sweet of you! Ino wouldn't have been so polite…

"Well," Sakura shifted nervously, looking at the blonde blue-eyed woman in front of her. "Have you seen Sasuke around?"

"Uchiha-kun?" The mother tapped her chin, a thoughtful look on her face. "Hmm….

Sakura gave a defeated sigh, ready to turn around and go look somewhere else.

"Wait!" The Yamanaka wife stopped her. "I do remember him…"

"Really?! Really?!" She nearly leapt onto the counter. "Have you seen him?!"

The woman seemed surprised at her interest. "Well…he came in here to buy flowers, but I haven't the faintest idea where he scurried off to, something about a girl."

"A…girl?" She echoed.

"Oh yes! How romantic, right before the Chuunin Exams!" She sighed. "Oh, such beautiful roses, but he had such a hapless look on his face, I HAD to give it to him!"

Sakura was thoroughly confused. "Sasuke…and flowers?"

She giggled. "Oh I know! What a lucky girl!"

She spun around, laughing like an old woman looking into the youth of being younger, arranging flowers as she went back to the cashier, leaving Sakura stunned. Sasuke couldn't actually have gotten flowers for her, could he? She doubted there was someone else, but then…where was the Uchiha? It wasn't like he could disappear into walls.

"Well, thank you very much Yamanaka-san." She bowed politely, turning to leave.

"Very welcome dear!" She called over her shoulder, as the pink-haired girl whisked away.

The Yamanaka smiled sadly. "The poor dears, there time is slipping right beneath them…..

"Where could he be?!?!" She groaned, to no one in particular.

Everyone else was training, the Chuunin Exams finally just tomorrow after days and days of practicing and trying so hard to be ready. She assumed that the only two who actually weren't training were herself and Sasuke, who seemed to have a bit of relationship problems at the moment. He was trying to find her, and she was trying to find him, really, but he wasn't anywhere!

"I'm going home." She sighed to herself, trudging up her apartment stairs with a defeated look wretched into her face.

With a creak, her rather gaudy green florescent door opened; cracked paint and all, to reveal her apartment. Luckily, the torn down wall was now a stable one, although the workers were still making an ear-piercing ruckus outside her door, thanks to Ino, who wanted an elevator. Actually, if it wasn't for the workers, she wouldn't be in this situation.

She nestled herself in her couch, the microwave beeping as the clock ticked down for the hot chocolate she made to warm up. Strange she wanted hot chocolate on such a warm day, but it was almost like a craving.

BRING RING BRING

"Shit!" She stumbled on her own feet, leaping over the couch to get to the phone before it went to her voice message. It was there she noticed that she had a few left messages…

"Hello?"

_Sakura sweetie! You picked up the phone!_

"Err…why, you called?"

_Just about every hour! We were so worried!_

"Worried?" She echoed incredulously. "About me?"

_Of course not! About our land!_

_Should've known. _Sakura seethed to herself.

"Well, is there anything you need Oka-san?"

_Could you check the house for me? I hope nothings wrong over there-_

"That's like an hour away!"

_So? Take a cab; it'll only be about 45 minutes._

"But-

_No buts! Our land is very important Sakura, you should know that._

She was about to respond, but her mother had already clicked the phone shut with a brisk huff. Probably annoyed at her. When she said an hour, she meant traveling at around Kakashi's speed when he was still in ANBU, maybe even Gai's. But still, she meant traveling like a ninja, which she couldn't do if she wanted energy tomorrow for the Exams.

"She cares more about that god damn land than she does me." Sakura growled out, slamming her own phone shut and trudging down the stairs.

"If Sasuke really is going to apologize to me," She thought to herself. "Than he'll have to do it some time else."

"I've got one long trip over to Rice Country."

-------------HAPLESS ROMANTICS--------------

Sasuke was getting really annoyed, the only thing going right today was the fact that these flowers seemed invincible to the elements and were still looking like he just bought them. Other then that, nothing was going his way. The only cab that seemed to come through the dirt path was the one he took, he had to preserve chakra so he could stay healthy for the exams, and the only person he had seen was that old farm worker and some cows and sheep.

He was starting to hate the country side.

The villa, that looked a bit like an over grown and extremely expensive Japanese tea room, was starting to get annoying. As he simply waited on the porch, watching the sun go down. Although everything here was beautiful, and the skies were so clear, it annoyed him to know that there really wasn't any civilization. Just a moat of fish for a fish hatchery, a lot of cattle, one annoying as hell rooster, and a lot of farm land and mosquitoes.

He wondered idly who could live here in such a place.

"I haven't seen anything but farm land in hours." He groaned to himself, his head in his hand, the other one wrapped around flowers. "And she's either not here or just avoiding me."

"Hell, I don't even think this is Sakura's house at all."

As the only person he had met so far, one of the workers who worked at the farm, had said. This was the Tachibana's land, who ever they were. And Sasuke doubted that Sakura would ever leave this place, where she was treated like a princess. It seemed so Sakura-like to be able to whisk her days away without worries in a place like this. So he didn't think she'd ever want to leave.

Who wouldn't? Worriless bliss of long skies of azure, long mountains carved into a background of wheat fields, corn, sugar cane, and lots and lots of rice.

This was the life.

But there didn't seem to be anyone home at the moment, so Sasuke was left to muse about what he thought of the Rice country in boredom.

It was when he heard the faint VROOM of a car engine that he looked up from the porch, surprise and what seemed to be happiness etched into his face at the though of civilization.

However, his hopes were shot down with flaming arrows.

Instead, he heard the click of heels, the kind that made you cringe at there sharpness. And a slight figure turned the corner of the house. He had heard the footsteps, faintly realizing this was no farmer, because the click was definitely some really expensive shoes. And as Sasuke listened, he realized it must have been one of the Tachibana's that lived here.

Brown hair with wisps of gray, nearly caked lip stick, a face so pale that there was powder spread all over it. Long fake eyelashes, a chubby and stout build, with a very expensive and designer dress with layers and layers of expensive jewels. Each stubby finger holding a containment of rings. And not to mention gaudy red heels that shined like the came out of The Wizard of Oz.

Sasuke cringed.

"I wonder where Sakura sweetie is." He heard the woman say in a prim voice. "She was supposed to be here an hour ago to see to the farm."

"I'll have to-

She stopped mid track.

Caked mascara eyes met surprised obsidian black.

"Who, or what, are you?" She pressed her lips into a thin line, waving her gold rimmed fan.

"Uh-

"You're not that god forsaken Uchiha are you?" She waved the fan in a haughty way. "I thought I told Sakura sweetie to steer clear away from you."

"What?" Sasuke seethed, watching the woman with steel eyes.

"She was supposed to run the farm for us when she got older." The woman frowned. "But instead she runs away and becomes a ninja. How pathetic."

"What are you talking about?" He grounded out. "She's taking a job to save your lives and all you do is call her pathetic?!

The woman frowned again. "Well the girl didn't have to take the job. She could have just worked for us here at the farm. It could have been so simple."

"How can you say that? She's your own daughter!" He spat at her, the woman who was just his height, who had a cruel twisted look on her face.

She laughed at him, a croaky laugh. "My daughter? She's not my daughter; she could never be my daughter! I wouldn't have given birth to such a swine."

"What are you saying?"

"Sakura is a Haruno, the daughter of an extremely rich business man from Tea Country whom fell ill and died when she was just two. So we took her in before she was taken by someone else, simple as that. No need to get so annoyed."

"So you're telling me," Sasuke growled out. "That the only reason why you took Sakura in was to take all her money that came with being the only daughter of a deceased wealthy business man."

"You catch on quick rat." She smirked at him. "However, I can't have you interfering. Guards!"

She clapped her hands, and men in black swiftly exited the expensive sleek black Porsche.

"Please escort our dear Uchiha and dispose of him discreetly." Her prim voice came, as she smoothed her gloved hands on her gaudy dress. "I don't want to see him anymore. Ruining my beautiful eyes."

The guards obeyed, making a grab for the boy.

"Do you know who you're dealing with?" Sasuke smirked, flowers in hand, making hand seals.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" Streams of fire raced towards the guards, who didn't come prepared to fight a ninja.

They ducked out of the way, the woman releasing an ear-splitting scream as she tried to run in her heels. It didn't hit anything but a few flowers surrounding the house and the dirt path that lead to the front door. Sasuke flipped in the air, landing on his feet in the water. Sakura's mother was infuriated by his talent, the guards standing up again. Even in there bulk, they couldn't catch him.

He locked eyes with the annoyed woman, strands of her hair sticking out in odd directions.

He smirked.

--

"Taxi please!" Sakura waved, making her way through a busy street. A tacky yellow car pulled up to her.

She brushed a strand of fresco hair from her face, piercing jade eyes peering into the tinted window as she clicked the door open. She slid herself in, the gray leather cold beneath her. The car smelled of lemon freshener, as she reached into her purse to get the needed money for the long trip ahead of her.

"Here's the money, I need to get to Rice Country-

She stopped mid sentence.

"Taro-san?"

The man looked behind him, as he sped off into the busy highway. He tipped his straw hat, a piece of wheat sticking out between his missing teeth. The rake he always carried was in the seat next to him, one calloused hand on the wheel, the other at the tip of his hat. He had a smile on his face, as if he was stifling laughter at the priceless gape on Sakura's face.

"What are you doing here in Konoha?!" She gaped at him, handing over the money.

He chuckled. "Well, funny story. I was walking along to your mother's house to pick up some seeds, when I saw this handsome lad waiting on the front porch with a batch of roses in his hands. He asked me if this was the Haruno's land, and I told him that this was the Tachibana's property. I think he might have been waiting for someone."

Sakura blushed deeply. "So…so he was there?"

"Yep!"

"Do you think he's still there?" She questioned tentatively.

"No cars ever go that far; he's probably still waiting for you."

She smiled at that.

"Then GO FASTER!!!!"

--

"Look here young man." The woman grounded out, brushing gray hair from her face. "I don't know what you want, but I NEED Sakura."

"You don't need her." Sasuke growled out, parrying a strike from one of the guards. "You just want the money."

"There isn't a difference!"

"Yes there is!" He yelled, grabbing the flowers in his hand and spin kicking one guard into the moat. "She's not some priceless object that you can just ship off to places, or invest in so that you can get money, she's a person!"

And although he was definitely feeling sorry for Sakura, he couldn't help but wonder what she did exactly to get Neji to go on a date with Sakura. She must really hate him.

"It doesn't matter!" The woman spat back. "When she turned eighteen, all that money is going to be mine!"

"WHAT??!!!?!"

Sasuke looked up from the ground, as the two guards were stuck down in the moat, eyes widening incredibly. He heard the taxi door shut, and caught a glimpse of a smirk on the workers lips that sat in the front seat. Her mother was mortified, fan closed in horror and her mouth agape. Sasuke couldn't' help but smirk.

"S-S-Sakura sweetie!" Her mother smiled coyly. "How nice of you to join us here."

There was a neutral look on her face, as she looked into the lake, at Sasuke, and back at her mother.

"What do you need, Oka-san?" Her jade eyes seemed lifeless.

Her mother smiled. "This boyfriend of yours; is causing a lot of trouble here at the farm. I need you to escort him out of the land, and report back here to help out at the farm. I don't want you getting into that Chuunin Exams whatnot, nor do I want you to stay in Konoha any longer."

Sakura had a weird and almost unexplainable look in her eyes, as she stared at her mother.

Her eyes wandered, from the astray hairs on her mother's head, to Sasuke's ruffled hair and tattered breathing, but her eyes seemed to blink at the roses in his hands. They were so beautiful, like scarlet suns, and she felt something clench in her heart. She blinked again, staring at the red ocher of the flowers tint, as Sasuke clutched them tightly, a pink ribbon wrapped around them.

"Sakura sweetie?" Her mother called.

"I pay my own rent." Sakura started. "I've worked all sorts of jobs, and I get paid for being a ninja for Konoha. I've got a lot of friends who live by me like family, who take care of me. I've got a boyfriend who loves me so much he'll travel to the middle of NOWHERE to look for me, even though I was looking for him myself."

"And most importantly," Her eyes turned dark. "I am not going to let you use me for your own personal gain!"

She lashed out at her mother, fiery green eyes burning, and her fresco hair framing her pale face.

Sasuke had to smile.

She grabbed his hand with her own, which he realized, was quite warm, and walked briskly back to the taxi, where the farmer he met earlier, was just getting the car into gear. The two of them scooted into the back seat, an unreadable expression on Sakura's face as they drove away from the farm, and the large house surrounded by a moat with a gaping woman at the front. They whirled passed plantations and pastures of cows, through rolling hills and rocky mountains.

"Sasuke I-

"I should say sorry, Sakura." He admitted. "I shouldn't have blown up at you like that. I shouldn't push you away like the way I did. It's wrong. Really, I'm so sorry I've been waiting to apologize to you."

She watched him rant with a large smile on her face.

"It took Shikamaru and Neji, and even Naruto to finally get me this far, but I really have to say sorry, not because they're telling me, but because I really am." He seemed to struggle for words. "And… I'd give you these roses but their already crunched."

She looked down at the flowers, slightly crunched from the fight he was in. Strands of pastel hair flowed from over her shoulder, as she lightly took his hand into hers, idly wondering how it could still be so cold.

"They're beautiful, Sasuke-kun." She blushed prettily at that, docile pink spreading over her cheeks.

"You're beautiful, Sakura."

He leaned in closer, washing her away onto the shores of bliss.

She'd have to reprimand him for being cliché later.

* * *

_Sooo, since this is the last chapter of Hapless Romantics, my editors have decided to do the, "Questions to Answers you Never Knew you Asked!" which they probably stole from some other author, and are now deciding to make me do this TT.TT _

Q: So, what did you listen to when you wrote the last chapter?

_What kind of question is that? Well, I guess I was listening to Honey and Clover, that one song like…waltz by suneohair… But at first I was listening to Wind_

Q: Is the main problem of Hapless Romantics going to carry on into Hapless Lovers?

_Ah, I doubt it, I'm going to have a new problem, much more Sasuke Sakura related. _

Q: Will Hapless Lovers be as humorous and at times random as Hapless Romantics?

_It'll definitely be more serious, however, I can't right a SasuxSaku without humor, and I'm just not capable of it. _

Q: Can you tell us the summary for Hapless Lovers?

_When I think of it _

Q: How soon will Hapless Lovers appear?

_Soon I guess, probably in August some time. _

…

_Okay so, before they question me anymore, I really got to thank you all for reading Hapless Romantics, and please PLEASE review! I love to hear from everyone! _


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